NEWS OF THE DAY: MPS of several parties have signed the initiative for reconvening the Parliament
On the list there are MPs from the government and also MPs from the opposition parties DPA, Alliance for Albanians and BESA. The signatures will be submitted tomorrow to the President of the Parliament, who is to decide whether he will temporarily return the already dissolved MPs to the parliamentary seats. The initiative contains two items on the agenda. The first is convening a session to confirm the decision of President Stevo Pendarovski for continuing the state of emergency, and the second one is for putting Parliament in function when needed.
The initiators refer to Article 63 paragraph 4 of the Constitution, where it is stated that the “term of office of the Representatives to the Assembly can be extended only during states of war or emergency”. MPs propose for the session to be in accordance with the recommendation of the health authorities for keeping distance, namely, electronically, via a video conference, or in halls where a distance of two meters can be provided between MPs. The Institute for Democracy also considers that there is a legal ground for convening the Parliament.
Previously, at a press conference today SDSM spokesperson Kostadin Kostadinov confirmed that the parliamentary group of SDSM is collecting signatures for convening the Parliament.
STATEMENT OF THE DAY:
Spasovski: I think that the Parliament can convene – because and according to both the Electoral Code and the Law on Parliament, the MPs have a mandate until the election of new representatives.
Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski supported SDSM’s initiative for convening the Parliament in order to hold a session to conform the decisions of the State President for introducing state of emergency due to COVID-19.
Spasovski in the TV “Morning briefing” show confirmed his position that it is good for the Parliament to function and for the MPs to be able to perform their duties in Parliament.
“I have stated my position several times until now. I think that the Parliament can convene – because and according to both the Electoral Code and the Law on Parliament, the MPs have a mandate until the election of new representatives. We as Technical Government want to have a legislative house that will function. We are in a situation of announced elections, we have no Parliament, and we have a health crisis. We simply think that it is good for the Parliament to function and for the MPs to be up to their tasks in Parliament”, stated Spasovski.
INTERVIEW – BYTYQI: We now need to all put an effort and to have understanding for the situation in order to overcome the crisis
The Government at yesterday’s session adopted a decision to increase the price of the excise duty on oil derivatives by three denars, as a measure for dealing with the crisis caused by the coronavirus. The funds from the increase in the excise duty will go into the Fund for dealing with the coronavirus for financing measures for supporting the economy and measures
directed towards the citizens. For the purpose of making this Government decision more clear, CIVIL Media conducted an interview with Fatmir Bytyqi, Advisor in the Government of the RNM.
“This really is a broad discussion, but we need to understand one thing – that the government is carrying the biggest burden in this pandemic, it needs to look at both sides and the revenue side of the budget, how the budget is filled, but also the expenditure side as various budget categories, but not only how they will be spent. And in such a situation when on the expenditure side there are additional expenditures that arise but have not been anticipated, and on the other side, we have a decrease in the revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in this case we have a decrease in the amount of fuel demand and a financial gap that someone needs to fill. This is one possibility that the Government sees that with the increase of excises, financial funds are made that will certainly go in the fight against the COVId-19 pandemic”, says among else Bytyqi.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
Today 48 patients have been registered to have recovered. Of them, six have been treated in a hospital and 42 having been in home treatment.
In the “September 8” Hospital in Skopje, a 51-year-old patient died, who was admitted in the hospital on April 9 in a serious condition and was immediately placed on a ventilator.
Over the past 24 hours, 28 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed.
– Skopje 11
– Kumanovo 2
– Prilep 9
– Tetovo 2
– Veles 3
– Valandovo 1
This brings the total number of diagnosed COVID-19 patients in the country to 1.259.
In the past 24 hours 660 tests have been made. So far, a total of 13.000 tests for COVID-19 have been made in the country.
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Starting tomorrow, Thursday, April 23, the restrictions on movement will be reduced, decided the Government at today’s session.
Every weekday, from Monday to Friday, movement of citizens will be allowed from 5am to 7pm. The ban on movement throughout the country will start at 7pm and will last until 5am.
For persons over the age of 67, movement will be allowed every weekday from 05 am to 12 pm.
Young people under the age of 18 will be able to go outside from Monday to Friday from 1pm to 7pm.
The ban on movement on weekends is also reduced.
From now on, the ban on movement during weekends will start from 3 pm on Saturday, and will last until 5 am on Monday.
On Saturday, movement for persons over the age of 67 will be allowed from 5 am to 11 am.
On Saturday, young people under the age of 18 will be allowed to go outside from 12 pm to 3 pm.
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Decisions for isolation have been issued to 63 people, while 54 people have signed decisions for self-isolation, in the past 24 hours throughout the country, according the data from the MoI.
At the same time, police officers have conducted controls of persons in isolation or self-isolation, during which, announced today the MoI, it has been determined that two persons have not complied to the measure for self-isolation.
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Starting from today, in Prilep, Kumanovo and Tetovo wearing of face masks, scarfs, shawls or anything else to cover the mouth and nose is mandatory. The aim, according to the government measure, is to create conditions for greater movement, while at the same time guaranteeing protection.
FLASH NEWS
The European Commission proposes providing macrofinancial assistance in the amount of three billion euros to support ten neighbouring countries.
The EC proposes 160 million euros to be distributed for North Macedonia, for Albania – 180 million, for Bosnia and Herzegovina 250 million euros, for Kosovo – 100 million euros, Montenegro – 60 million euros.
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Almost half, or 48%, of companies will not send their workers on forced vacation, 19% will send them on forced vacation, 19% have already sent them on forced vacation, and 13% are considering another option, shows the survey of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia conducted in the period March 7-14, in order to analyse the consequences from the coronavirus.
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– North Macedonia will receive assistance through the EU Mechanism for Civil protection, which includes 5 generators, 25 tents, 200 mattresses and 1.00 blankets. Austria, among others, is sending also gloves and disinfectants, states EU Ambassador Samuel Zbogar.
* Earth Day: Global online talks on climate changes
This year the theme for Earth Day is climate action. An enormous challenge, but also enormous opportunities of acting, having in consideration that climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.
Diana Tahiri
in cooperation with Biljana Jordanovska
translation: Natasa Cvetkovska
