Details

Round table on a possible constitutional court law

Published: December 5, 2019
Participants in the conference
Participants in the conference
North Macedonia

On 5 December 2019, the IRZ and the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia held a joint Round Table to discuss the possibility of a future constitutional court law for the country.

The event, which was financed by funds from the German Foreign Office, began on 4 December with a reception at the residence of the German Ambassador, Thomas Gerberich. The participants in the Round Table made the most of the opportunity to discuss the many outstanding issues as a small group and during bilateral talks.

On the following day, Sali Murati, President of the Constitutional Court of Macedonia, and Dr. Stefan Pürner, representing the IRZ as Head of Section, opened the Round Table discussions. This was followed by a lecture by the former President of the Constitutional Court of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, Winfried Schubert, who presented the German Federal Constitutional Court law and the corresponding regulations at federal state (Bundesländer) level and also talked about the significance of the issues governed by these regulations. He also provided some guidance on practical application.

Winfried Schubert’s lecture provided a starting point for lively discussions, during which the Macedonian participants put forward their own ideas about the content of this type of law.

The focus of discussions was on the following topics in particular:

  • Organisation of the court
  • Distribution of internal court responsibilities
  • Mechanisms for the preliminary assessment of claims
  • Budget issues
  • Procedure for the engagement of staff members who are not judges
  • Rules of conduct for constitutional court judges
  • Court processes for dealing with the media, particularly when it comes to critical or even non-objective reporting

Most of the participants in the Round Table were judges and scientific staff from the Constitutional Court. Other legal experts were also invited to ensure the transparency of the event and to enrich the discussions with an outside view of the court (in alphabetical order):

  • Margarita Caca Nokolovska, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights,
  • Prof. Dr. Gabler Damjanovska, Director of the Judicial Academy of North Macedonia,
  • Dr. Denis Prešova, Faculty of Law at the Skopje State University,
  • Dr. Jeton Shasivari, Faculty of Law at the South-East European University in Tetovo, and
  • Prof. Dr. Jusuf Zejneli, Faculty of Law at the Tetovo State University.
Following on from the discussions, they gave short speeches, commenting on various aspects of the work of the Constitutional Court of Macedonia. These also included some critical comments. They did, however, all agree that North Macedonia needs a constitutional court law, which should in particular cover regulations for a comprehensive constitutional complaint. The presence of the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Faton Selami, proved that these considerations are also of interest to the Ministry of Justice.