Skopje, 27 June 2025 (MIA) — People will be able to store electronic versions of their ID cards and driver's licenses on their mobile phones as of early October, when the government is set to launch the Macedonian digital ID app at the Western Balkans Digital Summit in Skopje, Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski said Friday evening in a TV Sitel interview.

Commenting on the passing of a set of digital transformation laws in Parliament earlier in the day, Andonovski said they were "a serious undertaking" as part of the reform agenda aligning the country's legislation with EU's laws. Andonovski also said the uslugi.gov.mk portal was constantly being upgraded to offer better e-services to members of the public.

Asked about the possibility of conducting an electronic census, which Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski had recently spoken about, Andonovski said that "we have the capacity to conduct it" and that the government's platform included conducting a digital census in 2026.

"We are aware of the shortcomings of the 2021 census, which we warned about back then saying the methodology was not good. This has now been backed by a Constitutional Court decision," he said, adding that in early April a governmental workgroup had been formed to prepare for an e-census.

"Our target is 2026. We want to restore citizens' trust in the system. And regardless whether it will be conducted then or in the regular timeframe, in 2031, we need to be prepared," he said, pointing to Slovenia as an example of a country with "an excellent digital tool for census taking."

Earlier Friday, Parliament adopted the Law on Electronic Communications, the Law on Security of Network and Information Systems, amendments to the Law on Electronic Documents, Electronic Identification and Trust Services as well as the Law on Archival Material and Archival Activities. mr/