Macedonian Parliament meets on Thursday to discuss amendments to five laws, including the Law on pardons, proposed by the leaders of the Parliamentary groups of VMRO-DPMNE and DUI Ilija Dimovski and Talat Xhaferi, respectively. The proposals are made under a shortened procedure, with brief committee discussions, and given the majority VMRO-DPMNE and DUI have in Parliament, can be passed during the day.
The proposal on the Law on pardons would give the President the right to revoke pardons, within a 30 day period after the law is passed. The President will also be bound to withdraw pardons for individuals who ask him to withdraw them. This is a key request by the United States and the European Union, who asked President Gjorge Ivanov to pull back the pardons he gave to politicians from VMRO-DPMNE, SDSM and other political parties, over charges President Ivanov said are driven by politics.
A law on protection of privacy that was also proposed would determine the handling of the wiretaps made between 2008 and 2015, whose publication was at the heart of the political crisis. The proposal would ban publication of materials that endanger the privacy and personal life of individuals, and the use of such materials for electoral, political and other goals.
Changes to the laws on protection of public information, the electoral code and the law on administrative disputes are expected to arrange the organization of elections, covering issues that were raised by the during the organization of the early elections that were eventually canceled.