North Macedonia

60 years of the Constitutional Court

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Published: May 21, 2024
Former President of the Regional Court, Winfried Schubert, during his presentation.
Former President of the Regional Court, Winfried Schubert, during his presentation.
North Macedonia

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of North Macedonia celebrated its 60th anniversary on 15 March 2024 with an OSCE-supported international conference on ‘Freedom of expression and the press’. Due to the good and long-standing cooperation with IRZ, our organisation was involved in the programme with two expert presentations.

The President of the Constitutional Court, Dobrila Kacarska, opened the conference, which was followed by words of welcome from high-ranking guests, such as the President of the Republic, Stevo Pendarovski, the Speaker of Parliament, Jovan Mitreski, the President of the Government, Talat Xhafri, the Minister of Justice, Krenar Loga, the OSCE Head of Mission, Kilian Wahl, the EU delegation, Ben Nupau, and the ambassadors of the USA, Angela Price, and Germany, Petra Drexler.

This was followed by two panels moderated by the former judge at the ECHR, Margarita Tsatsa-Nikolovska. In this context, the international speakers presented the case law of the various national constitutional courts and the European Court of Human Rights on the topic of ‘freedom of expression and freedom of the press’.

IRZ expert Winfried Schubert, former President of the Constitutional Court of Saxony-Anhalt, presented future constitutional challenges in the area of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the areas of ‘hate speech’, ‘fake news’ and ‘artificial intelligence’. Mladen Cadikovski, President of the Association of Journalists of North Macedonia (AJM), presented the media's perspective. In addition, IRZ head of section, lawyer Dr Stefan Pürner, responsible for North Macedonia, presented the Lüth ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court in Macedonian, emphasising that this decision also made many critical contributions to the social debate possible in the first place.

Further information and impressions of the anniversary event.

Critical reflection on law in Nuremberg

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Published: May 21, 2024
Participants in the library of the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court.
Participants in the library of the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court.
North Macedonia

A working visit by young judges from North Macedonia to the Higher Regional Court, Regional Court and Local Court of Nuremberg took place in Nuremberg from 22 to 26 October 2023. IRZ organised the event, which was made possible by project funding from the Federal Foreign Office, in cooperation with the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court and the Pavel Shatev Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.

The focus was on the practice of effective conduct of hearings by judges as well as questions of judicial organisation and voluntary jurisdiction. The group also took the opportunity to learn about the judicial reappraisal of National Socialism in Nuremberg. Together with Bavarian trainee judges, the young judges took part in an all-day event in Courtroom 600, the site of the Nuremberg war crimes trials.

The event was a part of the critical reflection on the law in accordance with Section 51 of the German Judges Act, which was revised in 2021.

Conducting judicial negotiations as a cross-cutting issue

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Published: February 27, 2023
Participants in the seminar “Preparation and conduct of negotiations in civil procedure” held in Skopje (North Macedonia) on 25 October 2022.
Participants in the seminar “Preparation and conduct of negotiations in civil procedure” held in Skopje (North Macedonia) on 25 October 2022.
North Macedonia

The seminar on “Preparing and conducting negotiations in civil proceedings” organised by IRZ and the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors “Pavel Shatev” took place in Skopje (North Macedonia) on 25 October 2022. Antoneta Dimovska, judge at the civil court in Skopje and Prof Dr Jan Orth, LL.M., presiding judge at the Cologne Regional Court, emphasised the importance of extensive preparation and active management of civil hearings.

Judicial conduct of negotiations has multiple effects

They not only help speed up the duration of the proceedings, but also lead to a greater acceptance of the court and its decisions by the parties and thus to the reputation of the judiciary as a whole.

The participants were given practical recommendations, e.g. on how to deal with the parties and legal representatives when dealing with litigation settlements. A practical exercise in small groups on relational techniques rounded off the program.

The two speakers both stressed the importance of an active role for the judiciary in their very engaging presentations. They also responded to their frequently encountered fear of being biased due to preliminary assessments of the legal and factual situation.

The film backed up the discussions and presentations

The premiere of the IRZ training film on judicial negotiation in the Macedonian language was a valuable addition to the presentations and discussions. It also featured Macedonian participants in working visits to Germany organised by IRZ, who described the impressions they had gained and related German practice to that in the courts of North Macedonia.

The event is an example of how IRZ significantly increases the efficiency of the IRZ events with the professional combination of formats and forms of action.