This brief summarises the key developments in relation to the rule of law in view of EU accession in North Macedonia for the period October–December 2023. It includes the monitoring of the fundamentals of EU accession, including key developments in the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and Chapter 23: Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.

This Shadow Report brings together in a single coherent whole all the findings, conclusions and recommendations that resulted from the monitoring in the areas covered by Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. This is the eighth such report published by the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje, taking into account the comments and opinions of non-governmental organisations. The previous seven reports covered the following periods: October 2014 – July 2015, July 2015 – April 2016, May 2016 – January 2018, June 2018 – March 2019, April 2019 – March 2020, April 2020 – September 2021 and October 2021 – September 2022.

This report covers the period from the beginning of October 2022 until the end of September 2023. The report provides data that are relevant even before October 2022, if they were needed for contextualisation or clarification of new information from the current reporting period, and which are relevant for the reporting period. The reporting period of this report corresponds to the reporting period of the European Commission (EC) for the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). This draft report follows the structure of Chapter 23, in line with the EC report. At the end of each area, we have singled out in a frame the recommendations and the main conclusions.

The reporting period was marked by country’s participation in the screening process, the receiving of the screening report for Cluster 1, “Fundamentals”, as well as the preparation of the strategic documents for the opening of this cluster, in parallel with the existing pronounced political polarisation related to the “French proposal” and the constitutional amendments as well as the worrying developments in the area of the rule of law. In addition, the report of the Franco-German group of experts on EU institutional reforms was presented, positioning the respect for the rule of law as a fundamental constitutional principle, essential for the effective functioning of the EU and a prerequisite for accession. Hence, there is a need for significant practical changes in line with European standards and showing commitment of the institutions to the reforms in the area.

This shadow report was prepared within the framework of the project “Building Bridges for a Common Future: Rule of Law in View of EU accession”. The project is financed by the European Union and aims to help create sustainable reforms for the rule of law on the path to the EU accession.

EPI’s work is focused on the needs and constraints of North Macedonia, a country that awaited the start of the accession negotiations for more than a decade while experiencing a decline in support for European Union membership and political instability in recent years. Within its rule of law programme, it closely monitors the level of compliance with the rule of law principle in member states of the EU and candidate countries, in order to learn valuable lessons and present them to relevant stakeholders and the citizens of North Macedonia, as these lessons will have to be implemented now as a candidate country and as a member state in the future. EPI also monitors events within the country in the following areas in accordance with the EU accession negotiation structure: functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.

The EU is based on the rule of law which entails that every action taken by it is founded on treaties approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU member states. Candidate countries for EU accession must also respect the rights and obligations enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This Annual insight focuses more specifically on various aspects concerning Chapter 23, issues that member states and candidate countries face alike and possible solutions to them.

Brief analysis of the EC North Macedonia 2023 Report

The key points of this year’s Enlargement Package are the conditional recommendations for the start of negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the candidate status for Georgia, as well as the growth plan announced by the Commission.

The analysis of the Commission’s assessments for North Macecdonia leads to two conclusions:

Compared to last year, the level of preparedness to take on the responsibilities of EU membership has increased in one chapter. This is an expected development considering the Commission’s approach over the last decade that we touched upon in last year’s analysis.
The progress assessments are weaker than last year, and instead of “some progress”, the prevalent grade is “limited progress”. What ought to concern us in particular are the assessments of the judiciary and the fight against corruption as key areas that the overall course of the negotiations as part of the Fundamentals
cluster depends on.
These conclusions are concerning on several points. On one hand, the country has repeatedly underlined its high level of alignment with the EU acquis. This general stagnation in combination with the lack of progress in Chapter 23: Judiciary and Fundamental Rights undermines this argument that is put forward by the supporters of our EU integration. On the other hand, the long-awaited growth plan, announced by the Commission this year, makes reform progress a prerequisite for the availability of EU support, which should make us take the findings of this year’s report especially seriously

The PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the members of the Think for Europe Network, and it represents a compilation report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in the region by civil society, this report offers not only comparisons between Western Balkan (WB) administrations but also comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycle.

PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.

In line with the mission of the WeBER initiative, these monitoring exercises are driven by the necessity to strengthen domestic, bottom-up pressure for PAR from civil society in the region, especially from the view of keeping demand for this reform ongoing in the event of the loosening of the EU’s conditionality which may come with membership in the Union. All findings from this report and from the baseline PAR Monitor 2017/2018 can be accessed and compared on the Regional PAR Scoreboard at www.par-monitor.org.

This brief summarises the key developments in relation to the rule of law in view of EU accession in North Macedonia for the period October–December 2023. It includes the monitoring of the fundamentals of EU accession, including key developments in the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and Chapter 23: Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.

This Shadow Report brings together in a single coherent whole all the findings, conclusions and recommendations that resulted from the monitoring in the areas covered by Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. This is the eighth such report published by the European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje, taking into account the comments and opinions of non-governmental organisations. The previous seven reports covered the following periods: October 2014 – July 2015, July 2015 – April 2016, May 2016 – January 2018, June 2018 – March 2019, April 2019 – March 2020, April 2020 – September 2021 and October 2021 – September 2022.

This report covers the period from the beginning of October 2022 until the end of September 2023. The report provides data that are relevant even before October 2022, if they were needed for contextualisation or clarification of new information from the current reporting period, and which are relevant for the reporting period. The reporting period of this report corresponds to the reporting period of the European Commission (EC) for the Republic of North Macedonia (RNM). This draft report follows the structure of Chapter 23, in line with the EC report. At the end of each area, we have singled out in a frame the recommendations and the main conclusions.

The reporting period was marked by country’s participation in the screening process, the receiving of the screening report for Cluster 1, “Fundamentals”, as well as the preparation of the strategic documents for the opening of this cluster, in parallel with the existing pronounced political polarisation related to the “French proposal” and the constitutional amendments as well as the worrying developments in the area of the rule of law. In addition, the report of the Franco-German group of experts on EU institutional reforms was presented, positioning the respect for the rule of law as a fundamental constitutional principle, essential for the effective functioning of the EU and a prerequisite for accession. Hence, there is a need for significant practical changes in line with European standards and showing commitment of the institutions to the reforms in the area.

This shadow report was prepared within the framework of the project “Building Bridges for a Common Future: Rule of Law in View of EU accession”. The project is financed by the European Union and aims to help create sustainable reforms for the rule of law on the path to the EU accession.

EPI’s work is focused on the needs and constraints of North Macedonia, a country that awaited the start of the accession negotiations for more than a decade while experiencing a decline in support for European Union membership and political instability in recent years. Within its rule of law programme, it closely monitors the level of compliance with the rule of law principle in member states of the EU and candidate countries, in order to learn valuable lessons and present them to relevant stakeholders and the citizens of North Macedonia, as these lessons will have to be implemented now as a candidate country and as a member state in the future. EPI also monitors events within the country in the following areas in accordance with the EU accession negotiation structure: functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform and Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.

The EU is based on the rule of law which entails that every action taken by it is founded on treaties approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU member states. Candidate countries for EU accession must also respect the rights and obligations enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This Annual insight focuses more specifically on various aspects concerning Chapter 23, issues that member states and candidate countries face alike and possible solutions to them.

Brief analysis of the EC North Macedonia 2023 Report

The key points of this year’s Enlargement Package are the conditional recommendations for the start of negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the candidate status for Georgia, as well as the growth plan announced by the Commission.

The analysis of the Commission’s assessments for North Macecdonia leads to two conclusions:

Compared to last year, the level of preparedness to take on the responsibilities of EU membership has increased in one chapter. This is an expected development considering the Commission’s approach over the last decade that we touched upon in last year’s analysis.
The progress assessments are weaker than last year, and instead of “some progress”, the prevalent grade is “limited progress”. What ought to concern us in particular are the assessments of the judiciary and the fight against corruption as key areas that the overall course of the negotiations as part of the Fundamentals
cluster depends on.
These conclusions are concerning on several points. On one hand, the country has repeatedly underlined its high level of alignment with the EU acquis. This general stagnation in combination with the lack of progress in Chapter 23: Judiciary and Fundamental Rights undermines this argument that is put forward by the supporters of our EU integration. On the other hand, the long-awaited growth plan, announced by the Commission this year, makes reform progress a prerequisite for the availability of EU support, which should make us take the findings of this year’s report especially seriously

The PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed in 2021/2022 by the members of the Think for Europe Network, and it represents a compilation report of key findings from across the Western Balkans in the six areas of PAR defined by the Principles of Public Administration (SIGMA principles). As the third systematic PAR monitoring done in the region by civil society, this report offers not only comparisons between Western Balkan (WB) administrations but also comparisons with the baseline PAR Monitor findings of the 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 monitoring cycle.

PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team that combines quantitative and qualitative sources of evidence. With the SIGMA principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports are complementary to similar work by SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission, differing in that they offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on a total of 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.

In line with the mission of the WeBER initiative, these monitoring exercises are driven by the necessity to strengthen domestic, bottom-up pressure for PAR from civil society in the region, especially from the view of keeping demand for this reform ongoing in the event of the loosening of the EU’s conditionality which may come with membership in the Union. All findings from this report and from the baseline PAR Monitor 2017/2018 can be accessed and compared on the Regional PAR Scoreboard at www.par-monitor.org.