Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said at the meeting with the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) that a population census in Macedonia will be conducted in 2019, UMD said in a statement at the meeting that took place this week in New York, where the Prime Minister with a Government delegation attended the 72rd General United Nations Assembly.
It was said in a statement regarding the meeting, that UMD President Metodija Koloski asked Zaev to explain the Law on use of languages and repeated the view that it is unacceptable for UMD to “interfere with the Macedonian constitution, unity, national interests, territorial integrity of the Republic of Macedonia, as well as possible creation of a bi-national state instead of a state for the Macedonians and all minorities with equal rights “.
“(Kolovski) received an explanation from Prime Minister Zaev that this draft law represents only the last legal part of the Law on Languages adopted in 2008 and 2011 and does not infringe on the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. In this context, Koloski raised the issue of the population census in the Republic of Macedonia, to which Prime Minister Zaev made a promise to be implemented in 2019, “the UMD statement said.
At the meeting it was also addressed the name dispute with Greece. UMD member, Vladimir Kotevski emphasized that the UMD insists on stopping all negotiations regarding the name, and criticized the agreement with Bulgaria, stressing out that “any other agreements should not be detrimental to the state integrity and the protection of the rights of the Macedonian minorities in those countries.
“President Koloski continued with emphasizing the position of the UMD for NATO and the European Integration of Macedonia, with special emphasis that the Government of the Republic of Macedonia should not allow entry into NATO and the EU by a condition for changing the name”, it was said in the statement.
