Skopje, 21 December 2023 (MIA) – In an interview for Kanal 5 TV on Thursday evening, President Stevo Pendarovski said he wasn’t surprised by the composition of the U.S. “blacklist” and called for legal amendments that would ban individuals designated for corruption by the United States from participating in politics or holding public office.

In the interview, Pendarovski said he had received indications about the designations from his conversations with U.S. representatives, adding that he has reports that at least one more individual will be designated in the coming months.

Speaking about the state of the judiciary, Pendarovski recalled that a few years ago he supported the position of the European Union that there shouldn’t be a complete vetting of judges, considering Albania’s example where only 40 percent of judges and prosecutors passed through the vetting. “But,” he said, “from a present point of view it has become evident that North Macedonia failed to implement the reforms in the judiciary, which is why a vetting is necessary”.

“When I see that we haven’t progressed, I think it might be better for us to be left with only 40 percent of judges who have integrity and to have incomplete bodies, than to have a judiciary and prosecution that you can see the effects of, which is being referred to as a cancer of our society. The vetting process might take us at least three to four years, it will leave us with half the number of judges, but maybe it is some kind of beginning because all the alternatives have led us here,” said Pendarovski.

Regarding Friday’s session of the Judicial Council which will debate a potential dismissal of the President of the Supreme Court, Besa Ademi, Pendarovski said that such a move should be condemned, because it creates an impression that the procedure has been launched after she made a statement about being exposed to political pressure.

Photo: MIA Archive