
Vredi is preparing a law for former NLA members, expects support from VMRO-DPMNE and ZNAM
Vredji is preparing a law on the status of former NLA members, reveals MP Riyad Shaqiri. He did not specify when the draft law will enter the parliamentary procedure, but in an interview with "Sloboden Pechat" he said that the leaders of Vredi should first give their approval, who will also seek support from the government partners VMRO-DPMNE and ZNAM for the legal solution. According to Shaqiri, the government partners were not informally against equal rights for former ONA members with those of the veterans, with the reservation that a climate should be created in society for a law that would include both veterans and former ONA members.
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– I am preparing a law that would give former NLA members and their families the same rights as veterans. There is already a draft version of the law that the Vredi parliamentary group is working on. In informal conversations with colleagues from VMRO-DPMNE and ZNAM, they say that this issue needs to be resolved, but that a climate needs to be created in society for this. It would be good to make a comprehensive law that would cover the injured veterans and NLA members – says Shaqiri.

He adds that there are families on both sides of the conflict who have been harmed, and that the status of ex-combatants will be resolved through the rights that the families of former NLA members would also gain. He does not specify whether they are preparing a law for NLA members, for compensation for their families, or for the status of former NLA members. It is important, says Shaqiri, that both sides of the conflict have equal rights, because former NLA members pay taxes, contribute to the state, and, therefore, their children should enjoy the same rights as the children and families of veterans.
– With the law on persons damaged by the conflict, blockages in the Parliament will be avoided in the future, like the current one on the law on veterans, that issue will be closed once and for all and we will move forward as a country. The leaders of Vredi will first agree on the form of the law and then they will need to discuss the proposal at a higher level with the Prime Minister and leader of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickoski and with the leader of ZNAM Maksim Dimitrievski – says Shaqiri.
He adds that they have support for the law from the European Front, to whom the proposal will be submitted for the opposition to contribute.
Shaqiri is more specific about the law on former NLA members in an interview with Alsat television, announcing that they will submit it to the Parliament in two to three months, that they have spoken with representatives of VMRO-DPMNE and ZNAM, and that he believes that "it can be said that we should consider this topic together. In principle, within the framework of their competencies, they are ready and agree that there should be a law once and for all, we will introduce it into procedure and Macedonia will move towards stability."