Changing the state coat of arms was on the table among government partners Hristijan Mickoski and the leaders of It's worth it, the Government reveals to "Sloboden Pečan". The issue of changing the coat of arms was raised by the Prime Minister, but for now the Government is not revealing any other details.

We were unable to obtain a position from Vredi on whether Izet Mexiti, Bilal Kasami, Arben Taravari и Zekirija Ibrahimi is it acceptable to change the state symbol? On the other hand, the Government denies the statements of Kasami and Taravari that talks with Mickoski are in an advanced phase to change the Constitution to the wording that the language spoken by 20 percent will become Albanian.

– There has never been a discussion on that topic and we will not open the Constitution just to change the wording "20 percent" in Albanian. The only discussion with Vredi was about changing the state coat of arms. The change of the coat of arms was opened as a question by Prime Minister Mickoski – the Government told "Sloboden Pechat".

The Prime Minister, in response to a journalist's question, personally confirmed that he had not discussed with the leaders of Vredi any changes to the Constitution regarding the Albanian language.

– There were no such conversations – said Mickoski.

The Government is refraining from commenting on whether they will propose a change to the coat of arms in the current mandate, whether there have already been proposals for the new coat of arms, as well as Vredi's position on the issue.

Gruevski proposed a red lion on a gold-yellow background

The last time a change to the coat of arms was proposed by the Government of Nikola Gruevski in 2014, but the former prime minister failed to secure a two-thirds majority in support of the new state symbol. The then coalition between VMRO-DPMNE and DUI at a government session, a proposal was made to change the state coat of arms to a red lion on a gold-yellow background in the form of a shield, as well as a crown in the upper part in the form of a fortress. The proposal was acceptable to DUI, because the lion was on the coats of arms of many old and large Albanian families. The explanation of the government proposal at the time was that it was a return to historical symbols. The design of the red lion was based on historical coats of arms, the illustrations of Verland from 1481 and the coat of arms of Baroad from 1581, which through the stemographies of Vitezović in 1694 and Žerafović in 1741, also became the state coat of arms of Macedonia. The gold-yellow crown, which is decorated with pearls and rubies, was supposed to symbolize the republican organization of the state.

Last year, however, university professor and current advisor to Mickoski, Aleksandar Spasenovski, mentioned the change of the state coat of arms in the context of securing support from the then opposition VMRO-DPMNE for the constitutional amendments to begin negotiations with the EU. He suggested that politicians address creative solutions that, in his opinion, would anticipate the fears of those opposed to the constitutional amendments and would enable their greater identification with the constitutional political system in the country. One such example, which Spasenovski mentioned, was the return to the debate on changing the state coat of arms according to the proposal from 2014.

The Government does not reveal whether Mickoski is talking about the proposal from Gruevski's government in his talks with Vredi or whether new solutions will be offered for changing the state coat of arms.
The current state coat of arms, with minor modifications, has been in use since 1946. In 2009, only the red five-pointed star from the socialist coat of arms was removed from the coat of arms.

It is worth bragging about "advanced talks" to delete "20 percent" from the Constitution

On the other hand, the leaders of Vredi, Arben Taravari and Bilal Kasami, in separate television appearances, announced that during the opening of the Constitution, there will be a replacement of the 20 percent formulation with the Albanian language, as well as the promotion of the Albanian language, which the Government denies.
Kasami says that the Albanian language law will promote the use of the Albanian language.

– We have advanced discussions with the Prime Minister to remove the 20 percent definition of the Albanian language in the next package of constitutional amendments and to define the wording in the Constitution of Macedonia as the Albanian language. We guarantee that the Albanian language will not be degraded but will be promoted – stated Kasami.

И Taravari In an appearance on TV 21, he stated that in the current mandate, the Albanian language will become part of the Constitution and that the official language in Macedonia, in addition to Macedonian, will also be the Albanian language.