On February 3, 2025, we organized the 16th session of Working Group 3 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights (Chapter 23), which this time took the form of a French contribution to the rule of law in our country. The topic of the event was “Paths to Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary: A Key Challenge in Rule of Law Reforms and the Fight Against Corruption.”
Helena Papa, a French expert in transparency, financial crime, and money laundering from the French international technical cooperation agency Expertise France, sharing the French experience, stated that “ensuring an independent judiciary is not a luxury, but a necessity” for the protection of human rights in the making of fair and just decisions. “Ensuring an independent judiciary is one of the most pressing global issues today, which requires reform,” Papa said, emphasizing that while many anti-corruption measures exist, it is crucial to establish clear standards and criteria.
Regarding Macedonia specifically, she highlighted the recommendations of GRECO (Group of States Against Corruption), of which 15 out of 19 from the latest report have been implemented, but which must be applied in practice and not just on paper, as she pointed out there is a significant gap between legal solutions and their implementation. Among the more important recommendations, she noted the need for greater transparency in the recruitment, evaluation, and promotion of judges and prosecutors; the establishment of self-regulating judicial institutions; the provision of more financial resources, higher salaries, and training for judges; as well as the provision of appropriate tools to keep pace with new technologies. Equally important, she said, are the recommendations to conduct regular evaluations of judicial performance, investigations into misconduct, prevention of conflicts of interest, frequent ethics training, and the public disclosure of court decisions.
The President of the Judicial Council, Aleksandar Kambovski, confirmed that the Council had implemented most of GRECO’s recommendations and has become one of the most transparent institutions by broadcasting its sessions publicly. He noted that the prosecution still lacks transparency. He emphasized the need for changes in penal policy and the methods of evaluating and promoting judges, as the procedures currently take too long. However, full integrity in the judiciary will only be achieved when judges regain trust in the Judicial Council, knowing it supports them and that they should not fear political pressure.
Judge Aleksandar Shopov, defending the judiciary, stated that judicial authority is not sufficiently independent and should be considered one of the three branches of power, not merely the “third branch,” as it remains dependent in many ways on the legislative and executive branches.
Lawyer Janaki Mitrovski said that pressure on judges will persist as long as at least double the current budget is not allocated to the judiciary.
Professor Svetlana Nikolovska from the Faculty of Security stated that building integrity in the judiciary should actually begin by building integrity in the police, because “no judge can turn a blind eye to solid evidence.” She pointed to the shameful conviction rate for corruption, which ranges from 12 to 15 percent.
Former MP and legal expert Snezana Kaleska-Vanceva stated that the rule of law is a state of mind, and that integrity is something each of us carries and builds during our education, not only when appointed to judicial positions. Therefore, efforts should focus on improving the educational process.
On the issues of independence, autonomy, and integrity of judges and public prosecutors as key pillars of the judicial system in democratic societies, spoke also the Director of the Academy for Judges and Prosecutors, Irina Trajkoska-Strezoski. She outlined several proposals for changing the procedures for integrity testing of candidates during the selection of judges and prosecutors, as well as for the training programs at the Academy, which will later play a key role in implementing mechanisms for strengthening independence and preventing political pressure.
French Ambassador Christophe Le Rigoleur, in his address, announced that France will continue to support the fight against corruption through various funds, as they believe that judicial institutions and the integrity of judges are guarantees of the rule of law. He also stressed that citizens must be involved in the reform process and encouraged to report and expose corruption as whistleblowers. His conclusion was that to accelerate reforms and establish the rule of law more quickly, a broad dialogue among key actors in the judiciary must be initiated.
The President of NCEU-MK, Prof. Mileva Gjurovska, concluded that precisely such dialogue is enabled by debates like today’s, organized by the National Convention for the European Union since 2017, with the participation of numerous national and international experts in the field of justice, judges, prosecutors, university professors, and civil society representatives relevant to this topic.
The event also featured remarks from French expert Jean-Pierre Neveu, professor from the South East European University Abdula Azizi, Deputy Director of the Academy for Judges and Prosecutors Ilir Iseni, and public prosecutor Emilija Mizo Dimkov, who shared their views on the topic.
A discussion followed regarding the recommendations of those present, which will be of great importance for finalizing the conclusions that emerged from the event.
Сподели
