Skopje, 14 November 2024 (MIA) - Minister of Justice Igor Filkov said Thursday that the European Commission’s progress report is a strong impetus for adopting necessary reforms at the debate "Platform: 100% Dedicated to You," on the topic "Focus on Justice, Security and Defense." He added that reforms of the Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors will be crucial to progress on the road to the EU, and announced the formation of a Chamber of Expert Witnesses that will play an important role in improving the legal system.

"To be honest, we don't need any report to tell us what the situation is, nor did we wait for it to take the reform measures we promised the citizens, with which we won their trust. The Ministry of Justice, from the first day we approached the reform process and made decisions and changes to move all this in the right direction," Filkov said.

He stressed that judiciary reforms are progressing in accordance with the 2024-2028 Judicial Sector Development Strategy.

"Judiciary reforms are the most important thing for us currently, and they are being implemented in accordance with the 2024-2028 Judicial Sector Development Strategy," Filkov explained.

The Minister added that one of the greatest challenges and important reform are Judicial Council and Council of Public Prosecutors amendments, which, according to him, will be crucial for progress on the path to EU.

"Tomorrow we begin with expert debates over draft amendments to the Law on Judicial Council prepared by the working group formed by the Ministry of Justice. This will be one of the several upcoming events. We're scheduled to finish the process sometime by the end of December, which means we'll have one debate a week. Expectations are high. Conclusions and recommendations from the round table discussions will be the basis for further improvement of the text and amendments to the Law on Judicial Council," Filkov stressed. ssh/ba/

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