Mr. Ljubomir Joveski, Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia
On 13 of September 2019 - after a four-month project implementation - the kick-off event for the EU twinning project "Building of the Institutional Capacity of the Investigative Centre " (see project description) took place in Skopje, North Macedonia.
The event was opened by the following high-ranking officials of the Republic of North Macedonia:
Ljubomir Joveski (Chief Prosecutor of the Republic of North Macedonia),
Renata Deskoska (Minister of Justice) and
Oliver Spasovski (Minister of Interior),
who underlined the importance of the project for their country’s further progress towards implementing the rule of law and thus strengthening the justice system in general and public confidence in the judiciary in particular in their keynote speeches.
Further speakers were
Samuel Žbogar (EU Ambassador in Skopje),
Dr. Stefan von der Beck (State Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Lower Saxony, Germany),
Otto Graf (German Deputy Ambassador in Skopje) and
Ivan Crnčec (Assistant Minister, Ministry of Justice of Republic of Croatia and also Junior Project Leader of the Twinning project),
who underlined the importance of the ongoing twinning project which will run until May 2021.
Dr. Stefan von der Beck, State Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Lower Saxony (Germany) during his speech
The analysis of the current situation with regard to the investigation centres in North Macedonia has already started within the framework of the Twinning project and will be continued in the coming months in accordance with the work plan prepared by the twinning partners.
In the second part of the kick-off event, the two project leaders Gordana Smakjoska (Public Prosecutor, Basic Public Prosecutor's Office for combating Organised Crime and Corruption, Skopje) and Dr. Stefan Trunk (Senior Public Prosecutor, Head of the Departments for Economic Crime and Legal Assistance, Duisburg) presented the first outcomes and details of the project components.
Since reforms are planned in the areas of substantive criminal law and criminal procedure law in North Macedonia and the IRZ wants to support this process with various measures for supporting legislation, it has now published translations of the German Criminal Code and the German Code of Criminal Procedure in book form. Each translation is introduced by an expert in criminal law and Eastern European law.
The introduction to the translation of the German Criminal Code was written by Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Friedrich-Christian Schroeder, Scientific Director at the Munich Institute for Eastern European Law based in Regensburg. The introduction to the translation of the German Code of Criminal Procedure was written by Dr. Ulrike Phieler-Mohrbach, currently a presiding judge at the Regional Court of Potsdam and formerly an assistant working for the Department of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Eastern European Law at the University of Regensburg.
With the publication of translations of relevant German legal texts, the IRZ wants to reinforce the role played by German law in guiding legal transformation, as well as address those law professionals in the relevant partner country who are not directly involved in the development of draft legislation.
Minister of Justice expresses her thanks for successful support with legislation
The IRZ is providing extremely intensive support for the judicial reform process in North Macedonia. Some time ago now, IRZ experts gave various opinions on the draft texts for a new Regulatory Offences Act and on changes to the Rules of the Administrative Courts and the Law on Courts, which were largely taken into account in the new legal provisions. Minister of Justice Prof. Dr. Renata Deskosoka has written a long letter to thank the IRZ experts for their support.
From 12 June to 10 July 2019, the Federal Foreign Office put on the ninth "Executive Seminar for Diplomats from the Western Balkans", attended by junior diplomats from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
In addition to training and courses, the seminar programme also featured meetings with persons from the sphere of politics and parliaments as well as visits to important German institutions. On top of this, organisations involved in international and bilateral cooperation with the participants' home countries were presented, including the IRZ.
The information event on the IRZ held on 27 June, which has been taking place in this format for several years, was chaired and moderated by the head of the Western Balkans course at the Diplomats Academy, former ambassador Gudrun Steinacker. After a brief introduction, Dr. Stefan Pürner, IRZ Head of Section for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, gave an introduction on the IRZ, providing a comprehensive view of its work and its activities in the Western Balkan states.
After this, Dr. Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska provided the participants with an account of judicial reform in their home country, North Macedonia, and the role of the IRZ in it. Dr. Lazarova Trajkovska was previously a Macedonian constitutional judge, former judge and Section President for North Macedonia at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and a proven expert in this field.
The two introductory presentations were followed by an intensive discussion, which also addressed "competition between legal systems" and how important it is to maintain the continental European orientation of law to foster sustainable legal development.
