Skopje, 15 April 2025 (MIA) — To address potential corruption at the Ministry of Interior, the Law on Internal Affairs should be amended to specify how long internal promotion announcements remain open; to precisely determine the criteria for promoting employees; and to limit the interior minister's discretionary power over employees' careers, the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption said Tuesday.

After reviewing the Ministry of Interior's rulebook on job assignments, promotions and career development, the anticorruption watchdog pointed to "significant regulatory risks of corruption and conflict of interest" because of "incoherent legal technique and ambiguous wording."

"These risks arise from incomplete provisions regarding deadlines for applying to internal announcements. Article 14 of the rulebook only sets a maximum deadline of seven days for applying to the internal announcement but it does not set a minimum deadline," SCPC member Zoran Bogoevski said, presenting the report on the Ministry of Interior's rulebook during an online session earlier Tuesday.

"This leaves room for the internal announcement to be active for only one day, making it possible to reduce competition and favor some candidates over others," he said.

According to Bogoevski, the interior minister has broad discretionary power to regulate the employee promotion procedure through a by-law, without a precise legal framework, which can potentially influence the merit system and impair the integrity of the process.

"To minimize the risks of corruption and conflict of interest in the Ministry of Interior's internal promotion procedures, the SCPC will submit this report to the legislator who proposed the bill on internal affairs and to the bodies responsible for its implementation," he said. mr/