Transitioning from a one-party system to democracy, a referendum for independence, the Constitution, the coat-of arms and the flag, the Ohrid Framework Agreement translated into constitutional provisions in order to improve the treatment of the ethnic groups, ratification of international agreements under which Macedonia joined the United Nations and the World Bank and so on and so forth.

These are the historic achievements of the Parliament in the two decades since its establishment. However, despite the historic achievement of the first parliamentary composition in the creation of independent Macedonia, the MPs have been troubled by the same problems – the name issue, the reforms for the EU and NATO, making the legislative branch more independent from the executive branch, attaining higher political culture and an argumented debate among MPs, etc – since the constitutive meeting on 8 January 1990.

“In these first 20 years of state sovereignty and independence, the parliamentary democracy has noted an upward trend. The commitment to Macedonia’s full-fledged membership of the EU and NATO, for whose realization there is political consensus coupled with a towering support from the citizens, has remained as a constant. Unfortunately, the only impediment to the realization of this commitment is the absurd dispute imposed by Macedonia’s southern neighbor concerning Macedonia’s name,” Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski said at the parliamentary session Monday marking the 20th anniversary of Macedonia’s democracy.

In his view, the country has been working hard over the past years to meet the responsibilities and the Parliament has been the mainstay of the reforms.

“At the same time we are aware that the EU membership imposes a lot of work and sweeping reforms in all areas of society and in the country in general. However, could we have done this and still do it at a faster pace? The response is of course positive,” Veljanoski admits.

He believes the another achievement of the Parliament is also the fact that the in the past 20 years over 3,000 laws were passed thus completing the country’s legal system and hundreds of international bilateral agreements and other international documents were ratified.

However, is the Parliament today taking the main political decisions in the country and are its members the genuine creators of the state policies as in the period from 1990 to 1994?

“Twenty years later the political climate has changed. We have a charismatic rule by the leaders and a proportionate election model that does not let the MPs show all their qualities and knowledge. I believe that tasks, which should be carried out in line with the Constitution, are not being executed so that the country can be defined as fully democratic,” says Tuse Gosev, a member of the first parliament from the ranks of the Social Democrats.

Stojan Andov from the Liberal Party, who together with Ljubisav Ivanov and Tito Petkovski has been a member of all parliamentary compositions thus far, is disappointed with the parliamentary democracy too.

The Parliament lost the leading role in the historical processes in the country, which is a result of a number of factors. What we have done in 1991 set the basic guideline for all political forces later and I deeply believe that Macedonia has a future regardless of all the difficulties at the moment,” Andov says.

The members of the first parliament from the Albanian political campus expect better parliamentary compositions too.

“The first democratic composition of the parliament was of a better quality relative to today. There used to be a constructive debate and now I have to say we have street democracy,” says Sefedin Haruni from PPD.

Abdurahman Aliti believes it is nearly impossible to make a comparison between the parliamentary compositions because of the different historical contexts.

“What is concerning is the lack of democratic atmosphere in the communication among the MPs. I don’t follow much parliamentary debates. However, insults do no suit people filling high-ranking offices in society,” Aliti says.

President Gjorge Ivanov, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, former President Kiro Gligorov, former prime ministers, present and future MPs , and representatives of the diplomatic corps attended the parliamentary session Monday. SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski, who was a prime minister and an MP, as well as a head of state, did not come.