Skopje, 12 January 2024 (MIA) - The State Audit Office, the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) and the Ombudsman's Office have the best scores for integrity, accountability, responsibility and preparedness to fight corruption and are the top three pillars with the most points in the National Integrity System (NIS), which compromises 15 pillars, while weakest pillars are the Public Prosecutor’s Office, law enforcement and courts, according a report published by the Transparency International (TI) Macedonia.

The NIS report was presented on Friday analyzing the 15 pillars of integrity, including Parliament, Government, public and private sector, media, Public Prosecutor's Office, courts, law enforcement agencies, public enterprises, etc. All pillars were analyzed in terms of how stable they are as pillars of integrity.

"We can say that the tower of national integrity cannot yet be stable without all these pillars being properly placed or reinforced. All of them have to work together to establish a good system of national integrity and not just work and cooperate, but also control each other, which is an element that we are seriously lacking," said TI Macedonia's Honorary President, Slagjana Taseva.

According to her, there are no improvements from the 2022 NIS results as this one is similar and identical, and in some parts worse than the previous report in 2016.

"The State Audit Office is once again the main pillar with most integrity, operating according to the rules and laws, yet it lacks resources and is one of the institutions that can further support other pillars of integrity. The second pillar is SCPC, which also operates with insufficient capacity in terms of resources, however they show excellent results in other part; and third is the Ombudsman’s’ Office. It is clear that independent institutions are showing greater integrity and preparedness to fulfill their role in the fight against corruption. Unfortunately, those who most need to show capacity and readiness, starting with integrity and readiness to fight against corruption, are again the Public Prosecutor's Office, which is one of the lowest rated with only 38.9 percent, followed by law enforcement agencies and courts," Taseva noted.

Media have an average score of 58 percent, due to challenges in accountability, ownership and financing.

TI Macedonia analyzed what was already written in the laws and how that is implemented in practice, then the resources or what the institutions should have at their disposal, how many of those resources are fulfilled and how they are used.

According to Taseva, independent institutions, which are always well-rated, are not sufficiently appreciated in society as a result of politicization. For example, reports from the State Audit Office and the Anti-Corruption Commission are not followed; their initiatives are not accepted by the Public Prosecutor's Office because “they believe SCPC interferes in their work."

"We have seen this in the last few days - attempts are being made to bring institutions under political control. This is a symptom of a captive state trying to control all institutions. Fortunately, they have managed to ensure their integrity as set out by the laws and are obviously not given enough opportunity to work due to their lack of resources," the TI honorary president stressed.

Outside criticism is always better heard, but now even that is not enough, she added, and people "no longer react to ambassadors' statements or to the European Commission’s poor report."

SCPC President Biljana Ivanovska said she was pleased that independent institutions are able to maintain and increase citizens' trust.

"Polls show that compared to the previous year, citizens' trust in SCPC has doubled. So we must proceed tirelessly. Independent institutions must put pressure with their recommendations and initiatives and address other institutions, including the media - as the voice of the people because I already consider them to be SCPC's eighth member. We all must act together and let professionalism shine through. Otherwise, I don't see a way out of this whole situation," said Ivanovska. ssh/ik/

Photo: MIA