Education Minister Nikola Todorov said Wednesday that he would not change his decision that students of non-Macedonian ethnic groups should learn the Macedonian language from the first grade even though OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek said in a letter to Prime Minister Gruevski that this was a sensitive issue and that hasty decisions should not be taken so as not to provoke disturbance.

A joint letter was announced for Wednesday evening in which, according to unconfirmed information, the EU, the US Embassy and the OSCE will call for putting off the implementation of Minister Todorov’s decision, Dnevnik reports.

The Government denied Wednesday that the prime minister had received a letter from Vollebaek. They informed that following a detailed analysis they determined that such a letter was received by Deputy Prime Ministers Abdulakim Ademi and Vasko Naumovski and Education Minister Todorov.

“Whether or not Vollebaek says the letter was sent to the prime minister as well, we are greatly surprised by the reaction of the OSCE, which, according to us, has tainted the credibility of this esteemed organization,” the Government said.

The Government reminded the OSCE that it was OSCE officials who suggested in August last year that all first-graders should learn the Macedonian language.

“Six month later, we are told that a terrain should have been prepared first and that it was too early for the project. We regret that Mr. Vollebaek is not informed that as early as 2007 the Albanian language was introduced in primary schools in the whole territory of Macedonia as an optional subject. Because of the positive experience we had in the past cooperating with the OSCE, we are going to continue the cooperation in the future, too. However, following this event, we are going to analyze their recommendations with greater caution from now on,” the Government says.