Documents: With tag Judiciary

Constitutional judiciary has been existing in Macedonia for almost six decades. The First Constitutional Court, as a separate constitutional order institution controlling constitutionality of laws and constitutionality and legality of other general legal acts, was introduced with the 1963 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia. Its organizational setting, powers and working procedures for exercising its jurisdiction were regulated in detail with a special law. In accordance with its powers, the Constitutional Court exercised additional a posteriori or conditional repressive control over the constitutionality of the laws by making decisions that had the legal effect of determining unconstitutionality of a law. Where the Assembly failed to harmonize the law within 6 months, the Constitutional Court would conclude, with a new decision, that such law was abrogated.

This Shadow Report streamlines in a coherent unity all findings, conclusions and recommendations deriving from monitoring the areas covered by Chapter 23 -Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. This is the fifth Shadow Report published by the European Policy Institute-Skopje (EPI) while taking into consideration the comments and opinions of the 23 Network members. The previous four Shadow Reports cover the period from October 2014 to July 2015, then the period from July 2015 to April 2016, the period from May 2016 to January 2018 and the period from June 2018 to March 2019.

This public policy brief builds on the views expressed in the Public Policy Dialogue held on December 11, 2019 at Hotel Arka in Skopje as part of the "Partnership Justitia" project: Restoring Citizens’ Confidence '', implemented by the European Policy Institute and the ZENIT Association, funded by the European Union through the Sector for Central Financing and Contracting and co-financed by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia. The project aims to contribute to restoring citizens' confidence in the Macedonian justice sector, by significantly involving civil society in essential reforms. The final beneficiaries of this project are the institutions in the field of judiciary. The dialogue consisted of two sessions attended by about 60 representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Council, the Council of Public Prosecutors, judges, public prosecutors, experts in the field, civil society representatives and diplomatic missions in the Republic of North Macedonia.

• Towards the Civic Panopticon: Achieving Better Balance between Privacy Safeguarding and the Communication Monitoring Need • Who is the Employer: the Municipality or the Political Party? • Funding Sources, Obtained Funding Levels, and Impact Thereof upon the Judiciary • Will There Be “Whistleblowers” at Universities? Implications of the Law on Whistleblower Protection and Corruption Prevention in the Republic of Macedonia’s Higher Education System • Monitoring the Implementation of International Standards for Fair Trial at the Skopje I and Skopje II Primary Courts • Free Legal Aid – Challenges and Solutions • Accessibility and Inclusiveness of Courts in Macedonia • Analysis of the Law on Deciding and Determining the Amount of the Penalty • Analysis of the enactment of the Law on Deciding and Determining the Amount of the Penalty

This policy brief summarises the main findings and recommendations from the Shadow Report on Chapter 23 for the period from May 2016 to January 2018 prepared by the European Policy Institute-Skopje and the Helsinki Committee for the Human Rights. The reporting includes three distinct periods: - period prior to the early parliamentary elections on 11 December 2016, - transition period after the elections and before the formation of the new Government on 31 May 2017 and - period from the election of the new Government by the end of January 2018. The report presents the key developments in the analysed period and provides policy recommendations in each of the areas of Chapter 23. For a detailed analysis of all areas please see the Shadow Report.

Project “Network 23+” implemented by the European Policy Institute-Skopje and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights aims at providing structured contribution of the civil society in monitoring and assessing the policies included in Chapter 23 of the EU Acquis – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. This report unifies all the findings, conclusions and recommendations that resulted from the monitoring of the areas structured in Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights into a single coherent entirety. In fact, this is the third Shadow Report published by “Network 23”. The previous two cover the periods of October 2014-July 2015 and July 2015-April 2016. This report encompasses the period between the beginning of May 2016 and the end of January 2018. The report’s period has been extended in order to correspond to the new cycle of European Commission reports, which are to be released in April.