It is to be expected that the delegates to the Macedonian Parliament will soon discuss the Law on Census once again, if for no other reason then to change the item according to which the census was to be organised this spring. Demographers are of the opinion that it would be much more desirable to have the census next spring than this autumn since, from the professional point of view, the circumstances are similar and comparisons more convincing. Anyway, all censuses conducted so far had been organised in spring. In the meantime, parties of the Albanians have internationalised the problem of census by winning the support of the High Commissioner for National Minorities of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Max van der Stoel. Each new visit of Javier Solana, High Representative for Defence and Social Policy of the European Union, which have become very frequent of recent, is awaited with uneasiness.
Census taking is in that context.
It has been announced that the census will be on the agenda at the next meeting of party leaders with President Trajkovski, a meeting that for the time being is the place of political dialogue. Like many of her colleagues, Siljanovska thinks that all nationalities, i.e. national minorities should enjoy equal rights, irrespective of their number. The institution in charge of the census taking, the Statistical Office, warns that the decision on census taking should be announced at the earliest possible date, because if the previously set deadline between May 15 and 30 is to be respected, then the selection of census takers and their training should start already next week. The State Census Commission warns that in making this decision, care should be taken of the safety of 11 thousand census takers. And, thus the data obtained at all population censuses conducted so far in Macedonia varied.