Skopje, 11 February 2025 (MIA) – President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova expects the members of the Judicial Council will resign. “This is an appeal to morality,” she said Tuesday, noting that they were not selected to become involved in judicial scandals, but to prevent any scandalization of the independent judiciary.

According to Siljanovska-Davkova, legal mechanisms should be implemented to ensure the recruitment of the best individuals for these bodies, instead of prioritizing politicization and partisanship.

President Siljanovska-Davkova rejected the data provided by the judges, claiming that trust in judiciary is just 20%. In response to journalist’s question, she also referred to the “Macedonian paradox” pointing out that in this country, no-confidence motions never seen to have an ending.

“The first step was the voting, the rejection of the Judicial Council’s report, which is already a step toward delegitimizing the Judicial Council. The second step is a no-confidence motion. Based on the start, the result is clear, because it seems that 67 MPs supported the initiative, while the majority is 61. Therefore, the result is predetermined,” Siljanovska-Davkova said after the Global Women’s Breakfast 2025 event.

She noted that many of the current members of the Judicial Council do not meet the legal requirements.

“If you reread the Law on the Judicial Council, you will see that many of the current members do not even meet the conditions listed there, which should guarantee qualities such as 15 years of experience in legal field, proven track record, professors, expertise, competence… Instead, many of them seem to be more characterized by the adjectives "partisan" and "politicized." If we go back to the roots of the issue with the Judicial Council, we will quickly conclude that in the judiciary, especially in the Judicial Council which closely monitors the work of judges, appoints them, and dismisses them, there must be a high degree of responsibility, and that responsibility is linked to ethics. My proposal then was that the responsible members of the Judicial Council should immediately resign after the scandals that occurred, as they were not selected to become involved in judicial scandals, but to prevent any scandalization of the independent judiciary. I am still waiting for them to do the honorable thing. If you also take into account the percentage of citizens who do not trust the Judicial Council, it will be clear that this is an appeal to morality, to the ethics of judges," Siljanovska-Davkova said.

The parliamentary groups of the ruling parties VMRO-DPMNE, "Worth It" coalition and ZNAM submitted to the legislative house on February 7 a no-confidence motion against the members of the Judicial Council elected in the Parliament, including Vesna Dameva, Miljazim Mustafa, Tanja Chacharova-Ilievska, Pavlina Crvenkovska and Selim Ademi. Parliament Speaker Afrim Gashi informed them on Monday that no-confidence motion has been initiated against in the Parliament.

Photo: MIA