The leader of the opposition and largest Albanian party in Northern Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), Ali Ahmedi tonight called on the country’s Constitutional Court to reject all appeals filed with it challenging the law governing the use of the Albanian language in the country.

The Constitutional Court will meet the day after Wednesday (11/12) to consider a total of 13 appeals submitted to it against the law. These appeals have been filed mostly by Slavic right-wing and nationalist parties and organisations, including the VMRO-DPMNE party of North Macedonian Prime Minister Christian Mitzkowski.

“On December 11 we ask the Constitutional Court, if it is really a Constitutional Court that dispenses justice, if it is a court that cares about democracy in the country, about peace and stability and not a court that adds fuel to the fire, to reject all 13 appeals, to leave us alone and go home.” Ali Ahmedi said, speaking to his party supporters, who since last night started mobilising, with all-day and all-night rallies “in defence” – as he called them – of the law, in front of the Constitutional Court building in Skopje, and are expected to last at least until Wednesday. They are expected to last until as long as Wednesday, at least until the end of the day.

“Keep your hands off the (Albanian) language law, otherwise there will be no peace in the country,” Ahmeti added.

He also said that the current president of the country’s Constitutional Court became a member of the court at the suggestion of former president Giorgi Ivanov (from VMRO-DPMNE), who had refused to sign the presidential decree to put the law on the use of the Albanian language into force.

This law, which was passed in 2019 by the previous center-left government of North Macedonia with Zoran Zaev as prime minister at the time, stipulates, among other things, that at all levels of central power and in the wider public and judicial sectors, the official language of the country is “Macedonian” (as stated in the country’s constitution) as well as the language spoken by more than 20% of the country’s citizens (Albanian). Based on the last census conducted in North Macedonia in 2021, Albanians make up 24.3% of the country’s population.

Mitskoski accused the Albanian DUI of inciting international tensions because, as he claims, this party is no longer in power and cannot “continue to steal the state as it did in the past 20 years”. The DUI participated in every government in the country from 2002 until June this year (with the exception of the 2006-2008 biennium).

After his party’s big victory in the last parliamentary elections held in the country last May, Christian Mitskoski chose as his partner in the government the Albanian coalition called “Worthy”, which had come second in the elections among the Albanian factions in North Macedonia, after the “European Front” coalition led by the DUI. That choice of Mitskoski provoked and continues to provoke strong reactions from Ali Ahmedi’s party, which accuses Mitskoski of “trampling” on the will of the majority of Albanian voters in North Macedonia.

Furthermore, 250 Albanian intellectuals in North Macedonia, including the rectors of the three Albanian-speaking state universities in the country, in an open letter, called on the Constitutional Court “not to play political games” and not to “tamper” with the law on the Albanian language, while two Albanian judges of this Court will boycott the session on the day after tomorrow and will not attend it.

However, comments on this law have also been made by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional law and the rule of law, which considered that some aspects of this law, particularly regarding its use in the judicial system of North Macedonia “go beyond the European standards set by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages”. The Venice Commission’s observations mainly concern the implementation of “bilingualism”, particularly in the judicial system, which the Commission points out will become dysfunctional. However, so far, the law has not been implemented in the judicial system of North Macedonia, due to lack of resources and sufficient staff.

The international tension in North Macedonia ahead of the Constitutional Court session the day after tomorrow follows the incidents that took place about ten days ago, with the burning of the North Macedonian flag by Albanians near the center of Skopje. The following day, people of Slavic origin burned the Albanian flag in the town of Prilep and set fire to Albanian cars in the town of Kumanovo, probably in retaliation.

Although tensions in international relations in North Macedonia have eased in recent years, they remain fragile. In 2001, armed Albanian KLA militants were involved in months-long clashes with the then Macedonian government forces that almost led to the country’s partition. Those conflicts ended in August 2001 with the signing of the Ohrid Peace Agreement, which gave the country’s Albanian population rights they had claimed since the country’s independence in 1991.

Ali Ahmedi was the political commander of the KLA and after the Ohrid agreement went on to found the DUI party.

Skopje’s former deputy Prime Minister blacklisted by the US for corruption

At the same time, the US has blacklisted the former vice president of the government of North Macedonia, Artan Grubi, and a North Macedonian judge for their involvement in corruption cases and interference in court decisions.

Grubi, who comes from the largest Albanian party in North Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), and Judge Enver Bejeti (of ethnic Albanian origin) were blacklisted by the US for their involvement in a major corruption case, related to their bribery to undermine judicial proceedings connected to the criminal conviction of former North Macedonian intelligence chief Saso Miyalkov, who as of 2022 is also on the US blacklist, a State Department statement said.

He had served as deputy prime minister of the government of North Macedonia from August 2020 to June 2024 in the coalition government of the Social Democratic Party and the DUI.

Artan Grubi is considered the closest associate of DUI leader Ali Ahmedi.

US Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, in a post on the X platform noted that the sanctions against Grubi and Bejeti “are proof that political interference in the judiciary cannot – and will not – be tolerated.”

“The United States will continue to name those involved in major corruption cases that undermine democratic institutions and erode public trust. No one is above the law and accountability is essential to making progress,” the US Ambassador to North Macedonia also said in her post.

The statement also notes that the US Ambassador to North Macedonia also stated in the statement that the US Ambassador to the United States of America is also a member of the US Department of Homeland Security.

The US has in the last two years blacklisted ten North Macedonian politicians and businessmen for their involvement in corruption cases. Among others on the blacklist are former Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, former head of the country’s secret services, Saso Miyalkov (first cousin of Nikola Gruevski), former Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Kotso Angusev, and two of the country’s best-known businessmen (Orce Kamchev and Sergei Samsonenko).