Macedonia - annual report 2013

Details: Published: May 21, 2014

Presentation of the Macedonian translation of the Guide on Admissibility Criteria for applications to the European Court of Human Rights: Ambassador Gudrun Steinacker welcomes the guests

General – Conceptual orientation

Legal policy starting point

The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Macedonia and the EU has been in force since 1 April 2004. The country has had the status of an accession candidate since December 2005. The European Commission's 2013 Progress Report calls to step up the efforts in the rule of law and for improvements to be made to the quality of the judiciary. The situation continues to be typified by restricted staffing capacities in the judicial institutions and a frequently indifferent attitude taken by local experts vis-a'-vis solutions orientated in line with continental European law and a tendency towards hybrid laws incorporating elements of continental European and Anglo-American law.

Cooperation to date

The IRZ commenced its activities in Macedonia in 2000 in the context of the Stability Pact and considerably increased them in the second half of the decade, especially by contributing contacts which had been made from a major third party-funded project, as well as following on from the foundation of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors. Regular joint events have been taking place with the Academy since 2007, as they also have with the Macedonian Bar. The IRZ is also expanding the target group of its activities in Macedonia and their sustainability through judicial publications in the local language. After the series of books entitled "Contributions from the work of the IRZ in Macedonia" had become established, the IRZ launched a further regular series of publications in 2012 through the publication of a Macedonian European law journal. Following on from these activities, it started in 2013 to translate material from the ECHR into Macedonian in cooperation with the Case-Law Information and Publications Division of the European Court of Human Rights, and to disseminate it in the form of books and on the Internet.

Strategy and method

It is particularly a matter of improving the quality of the application of the law in Macedonia and of ensuring a uniform orientation towards continental European law, something which would also be in line with the Macedonian tradition. The IRZ is hence concentrating on supporting the application of the law by means of further training events and publications. Further important topics are human rights and their enforceability, as well as maintaining contacts with young, German-speaking lawyers, who constitute a major target group as potential future multipliers. The IRZ also works on suitable topics with other German organisations in situ.

Foci of activity in 2013

Constitutional law / human rights and their enforceability

Multilateral symposium on constitutional law at the University of Regensburg with the participation of a judge from the Macedonian Constitutional Court
Translation of the "Guide on Admissibility Criteria for applications to the European Court of Human Rights" into Macedonian
Publication of this Guide in book form as well as on the websites of the ECHR and of the Macedonian Bar
Conference on the European Convention on Human Rights with the participation of the Macedonian judge at the European Court of Human Rights, Dr. Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, organised in cooperation with the Macedonian Bar, the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors as well as the Office of the Ombudsman

Civil and commercial law

Seminar at the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors in Skopje on the topic of "Public Procurement Law in Macedonia and in the EU"
Participation by the Chairman of the Macedonian Competition Authority at the 16th International Cartel Conference in Berlin
Seminar at the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors in Skopje on the topic of "Dealing with mobbing under labour law"

Administration of justice

Conference entitled "Judicial ethics and combating corruption in the judiciary: Comparative experience and joint challenges", together with the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors and the German Association of Judges in Skopje and with the participation of the head of the German delegation of the Group of States against Corruption, GRECOPublic law
Participation of members of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Macedonian Parliament at the III International Conference of Parliamentary Committees on Legal Affairs in Berlin
Publication of two editions of the Macedonian-European law journal entitled "Evropsko pravo" (European law) in cooperation with academics at the Law Faculty of Skopje
Distribution of this journal in electronic form via the website of the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors and of the Harmonius Network of Legal Scholars in South-East Europe

Criminal law and the law on the prison system

Seminar at the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors in Skopje on the topic of "Criminal investigations in economic and fiscal criminal cases"

Basic and further training

Participation by young Macedonian lawyers at the "German law" summer school in Brühl
Distribution of specialist publications which were drawn up in the context of the IRZ's project work in other countries of the region with related languages to selected project partners

Outlook

The IRZ will continue cooperating with the Macedonian Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors in basic and further training in various legal fields, and will organise further seminars on various fields of law with particular practical significance. The IRZ will also continue its series of judicial publications. The topic of the ECHR will furthermore continue to be significant within the project work in Macedonia.