Skopje, 29 October 2023 (MIA) – President Stevo Pendarovski awarded certificates to the participants of the 2023 School of Policies of the Presidential Centre for Political Education on Sunday in Villa Biljana in Ohrid.

Pendarovski at the ceremony noted that over the past months, the participants of the School of Policies had the opportunity within the five modules to learn and acquire skills from various areas of social and political life that represent the core of democracy.

“In addition to the educational component and the acquiring of new skills, the School that you are finishing today was intended to help you understand the meaning of democracy as the only civilized way of organizing political relations and living together in communities,” Pendarovski said.

In his address, he also referred to the state of democracy in our country and beyond, and assessed that in the last two decades we have witnessed a gradual but growing crisis of liberal democracy in the world and in Europe. He underlined that the key institutions of the international order are in crisis or are dysfunctional and indicated that on the territory of Europe we have an aggressive war of one state against another, that is, the kind of war for territories that we thought was not possible in the 21st century, while military tensions in the Middle East are a constant, as is the increasing instability of the African continent.

He sent a message to the participants of the School of Policies to continue to believe and fight for democracy and human rights and freedoms despite current disappointments, because without their fight for democratic values, they cannot survive.

Aleksandar Lj. Spasov, president of the Program Council of the Presidential Center for Political Education, addressing the ceremony said that the main task of the School of Politics is to connect participants from different social groups in the search for values and policies that unify and encourage democratic and socioeconomic development of the Macedonian society, which is more than necessary in times of intense divisions.

The School of Policies is held in cooperation with partner foundations and organizations that are part of the Program Council of the Presidential Center for Political Education, including the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation – Skopje, International Republican Institute (IRI), Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), Westminster Foundation for Democracy in North Macedonia, MK2025 Foundation and Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO).

Photo: Office of the President of the Republic of North Macedonia