{"id":33216,"date":"2026-05-21T13:05:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T11:08:08","slug":"%d0%bf%d0%be%d0%bc%d0%b5%d1%93%d1%83-%d1%81%d0%b8%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%bc-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d0%bc%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82-%d0%b8-%d0%b4%d0%b8%d1%81%d0%ba%d1%80%d0%b5%d1%86%d0%b8%d1%98%d0%b0-%d0%bf%d1%80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/en\/post\/33216?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Between Merit System and Discretion: Challenges of the Draft Law on Senior Civil Servants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This brief reflects on the developments as of February 2026, when, after a prolonged period of delay and uncertainty, a broad and substantive discussion on the draft law was finally opened. From the very beginning of the law\u2019s drafting, EPI has continuously provided comments and recommendations through its public administration reform monitoring reports and policy briefs. Throughout this process, we have repeatedly raised concerns over the Government\u2019s apparent hesitation to adopt the law and questioned why establishing clear criteria and a transparent procedure for the selection of senior management officials has proven to be such a persistent challenge.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This brief reflects on the developments as of February 2026, when, after a prolonged period of delay and uncertainty, a broad and substantive discussion on the draft law was finally opened. From the very beginning of the law\u2019s drafting, EPI has continuously provided comments and recommendations through its public administration reform monitoring reports and policy […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":33208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,156],"tags":[393,357],"class_list":["post-33216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-119","category-test","tag-393","tag-357"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBetween Merit System and Discretion: Challenges of the Draft Law on Senior Civil Servants - EPI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/en\/post\/33216\/?lang=en\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"mk_MK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Between Merit System and Discretion: Challenges of the Draft Law on Senior Civil Servants - EPI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This brief reflects on the developments as of February 2026, when, after a prolonged period of delay and uncertainty, a broad and substantive discussion on the draft law was finally opened. From the very beginning of the law\u2019s drafting, EPI has continuously provided comments and recommendations through its public administration reform monitoring reports and policy […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/en\/post\/33216\/?lang=en\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EPI.Skopje\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T11:05:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-21T11:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Between-Merit-System-and-Discretion_mockup-scaled.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u041d\u0430\u0443\u043c \u041b\u043e\u043a\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0438\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@epi_skopje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@epi_skopje\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u041d\u0430\u0443\u043c \u041b\u043e\u043a\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0438\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u041d\u0430\u0443\u043c \u041b\u043e\u043a\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0438\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/#\/schema\/person\/d3bccda7c7052a8ff666427b79e54a83\"},\"headline\":\"Between Merit System and Discretion: Challenges of the Draft Law on Senior Civil Servants\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-21T11:05:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-21T11:08:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en\"},\"wordCount\":113,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Between-Merit-System-and-Discretion_mockup-scaled.png\",\"keywords\":[\"2026\",\"\u0420\u0435\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430 \u043d\u0430 \u0458\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430 \u0430\u0434\u043c\u0438\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0458\u0430\"],\"articleSection\":[\"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0442\u043a\u0438 \u0434\u043e\u043a\u0443\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0438 \u0437\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0430\",\"\u0418\u0437\u0434\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0458\u0430\"],\"inLanguage\":\"mk-MK\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/epi.org.mk\/post\/33216?lang=en\",\"name\":\"Between Merit System and Discretion: Challenges of the Draft Law on Senior Civil Servants - 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