Skopje, 7 February 2025 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski on Friday called on all parliamentary political parties to work together on reforms in the judiciary, following opposition SDSM leader Venko Filipche's reaction over a no-confidence motion against Judicial Council members.  

"The process should be inclusive, we should have a social consensus. We do not want us to have an exclusive right to make those changes. I call on all MPs to vote when the item is on the agenda if they agree that the current Judicial Council should be dismissed. We should dismiss these members of the Judicial Council, and then together, through an inclusive process, we should find people who will monitor and identify judges who abuse their powers and who are the cause of some processes that should not be happening, due to their controversial decisions," Mickoski said after Friday's event on handover of flats to socially vulnerable families in Veles. 

He noted that he expected SDSM to be more rational in their statements.

"I thought that we would once stand together to secure a national consensus and work together on changes. It should not be unilateral, we should not be accused of doing something that is part of the coalition in the Government. I invite all parliamentary political parties to work together on this process, and make it inclusive," said Mickoski.

According to him, a social consensus is needed for changes and joint work.

"But the cause cannot become the solution. The reason for such situation in the judiciary is the government that has been where it was for seven years and behind whose decisions there are many controversies and scandals, especially in the judiciary. I do not want to remind you of the "smuggled" amendments to the Criminal Code through the use of the 'EU flag' procedure," the PM added. 

SDSM leader Venko Filipche urged against new partisanship in the judiciary and urged a non-partisan approach to judicial reforms in a response Thursday to PM Mickoski’s statement that VMRO-DPMNE's MPs will put forward a motion to dismiss members of the Judicial Council.

“We need fundamental reforms of the judiciary, and this is what the citizens expect. But reforms that will mean an independent and efficient judiciary that will deliver justice. We mustn’t allow the citizens’ demand for justice to be turned into new partisanship and occupation [of the judiciary] with the replacement of the Judicial Council by the ruling parties,” Filipche wrote in a post on his official Facebook page.

The opposition leader urged that all future steps and reforms of the judiciary are made with the consensus of all parties in Parliament.

The parliamentary groups of the ruling parties VMRO-DPMNE, "Worth It" coalition and ZNAM submitted to the legislative house on Friday a no-confidence motion against the members of the Judicial Council elected in the Parliament.

Photo: MIA archive