Protests as NMacedonia MPs back French EU proposal скачать в хорошем качестве

Protests as NMacedonia MPs back French EU proposal

(16 Jul 2022) SHOTLIST : RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Skopje - 16 July 2022 1. Various wide of people walking next to a police fence outside parliament building 2. Various of the parliament session inside the parliament as opposition lawmakers blow horns 3. Various of opposition lawmakers leaving the session 4. Wide of ruling coalition lawmakers voting 5. Wide of lawmakers applauding 6. Wide of lawmakers wave the North Macedonian and EU flags 7. Wide of North Macedonia's Prime Minister congratulating to the speaker Talat Xhaferi 8. Medium lawmakers congratulate to each other 9. Wide outside parliament of police guarding the entrance as protesters sing the national anthem 10. Medium of protesters wave flags and sing the national anthem 11. Various of protesters waving flags and chanting slogans 12. Medium of an improvised guillotine with a banner reading (Macedonian) "French Proposal" is set near the police cordon   STORYLINE North Macedonia parliament's majority backed French proposal on Saturday that opens the way for the country's hopes of eventually joining the European Union amid a dispute with Bulgaria.   Majority of ruling Social-democrat lawmakers, backed with minor ethnic Albanian parties, voted 68 in favor of the proposed deal. Oppositional lawmakers went out and abstained from the vote in protest.   By backing a French deal, North Macedonia and Albania, according to the EU's officials, can start membership talks with EU within days.   Lawmakers also adopted conclusions that provide that the negotiations with EU to be conducted on an equal and principled basis, respecting the norms of international law, with unreserved respect for the Macedonian language and national identity and obliged the government the conclusions to be incorporated into the negotiation's framework with the EU. The next major hurdle for North Macedonia's wish to join the block will be the revision of the constitution to officially recognize a Bulgarian minority. This requires a two-thirds majority, or 80 votes. The VMRO-DPMNE coalition and a small leftist party, with 46 seats between them in a 120-seats parliament said they will never agree to change the constitution.   The proposal, announced by French President Emmanuel Macron at the NATO summit in Madrid last month, envisages concessions from both sides. The government in North Macedonia would commit to changing its constitution to recognize a Bulgarian minority, protect minority rights and banish hate speech, as Bulgaria, an EU member since 2007, has demanded.   Macron has stressed that the proposal doesn't question the official existence of a Macedonian language, but he noted that, like all deals, it "rests on compromises and on a balance."   The French proposal has sparked deep polarization in society with difficulty of selling it to the opposition and thousands of protesters outside the parliament building who are denouncing the proposal as a sellout.   Even the ruling Social Democrats and Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski were backing the proposal as a reasonable compromise that doesn't endanger national interests or identity. The center-right main opposition party, the VMRO-DPMNE, as well as others, disagree, saying the deal favors Bulgarian demands that question North Macedonia's history, language, identity, culture and heritage.    =========================================================== Clients are reminded: (ii) they should check with the applicable collecting society in their Territory regarding the clearance of any sound recording or performance included within the AP Television News service Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...