Badinter against "lion": Albanian political parties on VMRO coat-of-arms.

The Albanian parties disagree with the lion being put on the state coat-of-arms, which was proposed by VMRO-NP. BDI stressed that all changes to the coat-of-arms would have to be made with a multiethnic consensus, adding that they agreed to the five-point star being removed from the coat-of-arms because it is a communist symbol. "There is no need for the state symbols to be changed. This means that the coat-of-arms can remain as it is, without addition of any other symbols," BDI's Tahir Hani said, noting that the anthem and flag also need to be adopted with a Badinter majority. PDSH has still not revealed its position, while New Democracy assessed that the state symbols should represent the state's multiethnic character. VMRO-DPMNE informed that it would support VMRO-NP's proposal only if a consensus is reached on this in the Assembly.