30/04/2025 Monitoring
Following a fact-finding visit to Skopje from 23 to 25 April 2025, Sibel Arslan (Switzerland, SOC) and Joseph O’Reilly (Ireland, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for post-monitoring dialogue with North Macedonia, have welcomed the progress made in fulfilling the obligations and commitments related to the state's membership of the Council of Europe. During the visit, the co-rapporteurs focused on reform of the judiciary and the electoral framework, the fight against corruption, media freedom and minority rights.
“We are satisfied with the progress made by North Macedonia since the last PACE Resolution on post-monitoring dialogue in 2019,” the two co-rapporteurs said. “North Macedonia is a democratic state where political freedoms – including the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression, and media pluralism – are generally respected. However, there is still an urgent need to reform the electoral framework in line with long-standing recommendations from the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission.”
“North Macedonia is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-confessional country and could serve as a model for other countries in promoting a 'living together' culture and mentality. We call on the authorities to continue along this path and to take further measures to respect the identity, rights and needs of all ethnic groups,” the co-rapporteurs added.
“While recognising some progress on reform of the judiciary, we are concerned about numerous allegations of politicisation of the judiciary and widespread corruption throughout the public sector, as well as the lack of effective measures to combat these phenomena. We call on the authorities to step up their efforts to this end, in particular by adopting the necessary legislative amendments, in co-operation with the Council of Europe and other international partners,” they said.
“We also remain concerned about the poor conditions in some places of detention and urge the authorities to implement without delay the outstanding recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee (CPT). Meantime, we fully support the country's bid to join the EU and call on all political parties to find a compromise to implement the 'French proposal' by including a reference to the Bulgarian ethnic minority in the Constitution,” the co-rapporteurs concluded.
During their visit, the co-rapporteurs met the President of the Assembly, representatives of all political groups and members of a number of parliamentary committees, as well as members of North Macedonia’s delegation to PACE. They also met the Foreign Affairs and Interior Ministers, the Deputy Minister of Justice, judges of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the President of the Judicial Council, the Ombudsman, representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and members of the State Commissions dealing with the Prevention of Discrimination, with the Prevention of Corruption and with Elections, as well as representatives of a number of NGOs and members of the diplomatic community.
