Friday, 12 May 2017
Working meeting between the President of the Assembly, Mr. Talat Xhaferi and Ambassadors of EU member states
At the beginning of the meeting, the Parliamentary Speaker Talat Xhaferi voiced his gratitude for the support offered separately by the EU institutions and member states in terms of him being elected President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. He underlined that it is his personal determination to be a Parliament Speaker for all citizens and all MPs and to respect the Constitution and the Rules of Procedures of the Assembly.
EU Ambassador, Mr. Samuel Zbogar, welcomed Mr. Xhaferi’s visit to Brussels and his meetings with EU High Representatives, emphasizing that the EU expects swift formation of a new government and then, along with the Assembly and other state institutions, for the Republic of Macedonia to return to the Euro-Atlantic integration process which requires the country to continue with reforms.
Several ambassadors posed specific questions in terms of priorities in the work of the Assembly, the relation between the majority and the opposition, the openness of the Assembly towards citizens and the public and the readiness to deepen the cooperation with organizations of the civil society.
Parliament Speaker, Xhaferi underlined that priority is placed on electing a new government, where it is expected that the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Gjorge Ivanov will respect the constitution, since it is a matter of institutional obligation and not a matter of personal will.
The next steps in the work of the Assembly will be in line of forming the parliamentary committees since that is a prerequisite for calling local elections.
Leaders of parliamentary parties have been informed about the urgency and seriousness of this issue and as soon as an agreement has been reached a session of the Assembly will be called.
Referring to expectations of the domestic and international public on the need to restore the credibility of the Assembly, Parliamentary Speaker Xhaferi emphasized that he will invest personal efforts to alter this perception.
This certainly cannot occur overnight and aside from personal efforts, active involvement is required by all 120 MPs. Nonetheless, I would like to personally repeat my position and conviction on this occasion that the Assembly must be completely open and cooperative with citizens, the NGO sector and the media.