Skopje, 17 December 2024 (MIA) — A new draft law on equitable ethnic representation in public administration will be presented in Parliament by year-end, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment and Physical Planning Izet Mexhiti said in a TV appearance Tuesday.

"At the end [of 2024] or the beginning of the new year, the Law on Equitable Representation will be in parliamentary procedure. We are on the right track to closing this issue," First Deputy PM Mexhiti said.  

He said the government coalition partners had "agreed that the [abused 'Balancer' ethnic diversity program] mechanism abolished by the Constitutional Court was not our fault, because this court was not elected by this parliamentary majority." He added that they had also agreed to replace the scrapped mechanism with a special law on promoting ethnic diversity in hiring public administration staff.

On Monday evening, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said an expert workgroup was drafting a new bill on equitable ethnic representation in public administration. He said the bill would be put before lawmakers soon.

"The problem is in the EU's screening report," PM Mickoski said. "It concluded that the 'Balancer' had been abused, that its so-called useful value had passed and that it should be replaced with something of value."

"We are not sitting around waiting," Mickoski said, adding that experts were already working on the new bill that would be "constitutional and will soon be presented to MPs in Parliament." 

"Don't think we want to be a government riding on the field of frustration that will be created among citizens," the PM said.

On Oct. 9, the Constitutional Court officially scrapped the 'Balancer' affirmative action program over fraud, influence peddling, corruption and clientelism in hiring governmental workers. mr/