Details

Wide-ranging support by the IRZ for the reforms in Macedonia

Published: December 20, 2018
Detail from a multilateral discussion on constitutional complaints with Prof. Dr. Tansije Marinkovic (left) from Serbia.
Detail from a multilateral discussion on constitutional complaints with Prof. Dr. Tansije Marinkovic (left) from Serbia.
Macedonia

On 17 December 2018 the IRZ, the representative of Macedonia to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Judicial Academy jointly organised an event in Skopje on the case law of the ECHR. After the welcome address of the German ambassador Thomas Gerberich, the former Macedonian judge in Strasbourg, Dr. Mirjana Lazarova Traijskovska, gave a talk about the analysis of the ECHR case law to date and its consequences with regard to Macedonia. This analysis had been carried out on the occasion of the 20-year membership of the country in the Council of Europe. On the same occasion a further issue of then newsletter on ECHR case law of particular importance for Macedonia was presented. The newsletter is published in Macedonian as well as in the language of the Albanian minority.

As well as Dr. Trajkovska the former President of the Constitutional Court of the Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt, Winfried Schubert, was a speaker at the conference. Together with the publications presented, the talks gave a detailed picture of topics needing to be tackled in the future.

On the following day a workshop, organised in cooperation with the Non-Governmental Organisation “Institute for Democracy”, took place dealing with issues regarding the introduction of constitutional complaints in Macedonia. Valuable input was provided by the experience of the Republic of Serbia in this context, where the IRZ had successfully supported the introduction of constitutional complaints.

These events, as well as the talks held at the Constitutional Court on the same occasion, are part of the IRZ’s activities in the field of human rights. Human rights, as well as the rule of law, are focal points in the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Western Balkans.

Additionally, the professional appraisal of judges according to the German model will be included in the draft of a new court act which will soon be discussed during government consultations. This is based on suggestions by the IRZ. The same applies to several IRZ proposals regarding the drafting of a new administrative procedure act.