Skopje, 23 January 2025 (MIA) - The Ministry of Justice said Thursday work is underway on amendments to the Law on Judicial Council and the Criminal Code, noting that working groups tasked with drafting the amendments have been established and are expected to come out with proposals soon.

Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, a judge at the Supreme Court of North Macedonia, has been named chair of the working group focusing on amendments to the Law on Judicial Council.

The working group tasked with drafting amendments to the Criminal Code will be chaired by Aleksandra Deanoska Trendafilova, professor at the Iustinianus Primus Faculty of Law at the Ss. Cyril and Methoidus University, said the Ministry

The adoption of a new law on the Judicial Council is tied to the European Commission’s reform agenda under the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and should be carried out by June 2025.

In line with the amendments to the Criminal Code, a procedure for the drafting of a new Criminal Code is underway as well, which, according to the Justice Ministry has been completed and is currently awaiting an assessment by the European Commission, after which it will be submitted to government and parliamentary procedures.

The European Commission recommended the adoption of a new Criminal Code in line with EU law and international standards in its 2024 Country Report for North Macedonia. In it, the Commission assessed the previous amendments of the Criminal Code, adopted in September 2023, noting they “weakened the legal framework, negatively affecting the prosecution of corruption”.

Additionally, the EC said the country should improve its track record in high-level corruption cases - with timely, professional, and transparent proactive investigations, prosecutions, final convictions, and recovery, including confiscation of criminal assets, value-based confiscation, extended confiscation and third-party confiscation.

Photo: Ministry of Justice