History

On November 16, 2001, at the session of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, the constitutional amendments deriving from the Ohrid Framework Agreement were adopted, more precisely 15 constitutional amendments, which should be noted to represent a sui generis spirit of regulating inter-community relations within the state. The commitment of the institutions of the Republic of North Macedonia to enforce basic international standards guaranteeing language rights is codified in its constitution, which makes these specific international legal instruments directly applicable.

After many political and legal efforts in 2008, the Law on the Use of Language was adopted, which advanced the Albanian language and its use in the Republic of North Macedonia, and was an important step towards the beginning of bilingualism.

The current Law on the Use of Languages, which entered into force with its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia” (no. 07/19), establishes a solid and prosperous basis for equality of languages, gives a new dimension, to the state and at the same time introduces a particular challenge to the credibility of institutions, and the further development of democracy.

With amendment V, the issue of language is regulated and it is emphasized that more detailed regulation will be done by special law. It is this legal basis which paved the way for the Albanian language towards its formalization as an Institutional language.

Following the entry into force of this Law, a public announcement was issued for the Director of the Agency for Implementation of the Language, as a result of which was appointed its first Director, Prof. Ylber Sela, PhD, on February 24, 2019. The General Secretariat of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia appointed Pleurat Ajazi and Armend Fazliu in service of the Directors to follow the procedures necessary for the establishment of the Agency for Implementation of the Language. Also, in the initial team to establish and consolidate the Agency for Implementation of the Language, three external advisors to the Director, Prof. Izer Maksuti, PhD, Prof. Nuri Bexheti, PhD and Prof. Ajten Qamili, PhD, and collaborators Emer Mustafa, Berna Mejdiu, Lirim Shabani and Ariton Spahiu. This was the initial team with which the director Prof. Ylber Sela, PhD, started the procedures for registration of the Agency, namely on March 13, 2019 the Agency for Implementation of the Language is officially established as a body within the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia.