Skopje, 12 December 2024 (MIA) - The rule of law is a living matter, a habit, a state of mind that should be ingrained in every officeholder, state official, judge, politician, and for the civil society and civic responsibility of citizens. It is high time Western Balkan countries find the right direction in the Euro-integration process, and that is the rule of law, in which civil society would play the key role, highlighted the fourth expert regional meeting "Let Justice Rule the Region", organized by the National Convention on the European Union in the Republic of North Macedonia (NCEU-MK) on Thursday.

Andrej Lepavcov, Director of the Directorate for European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said that the rule of law as a common value is an inevitable part of the Euro-integration process, and that most citizens believe that the reforms so far have been moving in the wrong direction.

"This is very important because we are talking about the rule of law and justice which we are all aware is the foundation of any true and healthy democracy and given that it has a central place in the EU Treaty of Lisbon itself, the rule of law as a common value is inevitably at the very heart of this important European integration process. As a country and as a region aiming for full EU membership, the accession process is a major driver of fundamental reforms in the rule of law and the judiciary itself. They have been continuously implemented over the last two decades - sometimes slowly, sometimes at a faster pace and with success, all depending on the given internal political circumstances and the dynamics of the enlargement policy itself but always aimed at aligning with EU law and European standards,” highlighted Lepavcov.

President of the European Movement in North Macedonia and NCEU-MK National Coordinator, Mileva Gjurovska, pointed out that citizens should be more included in decision-making processes, which will contribute to increasing the integration effect thus strengthen institutional capacities.

"I believe it is high time we find the real direction in the Euro-integration process, which is the rule of law. We are here to define the paths to reach that place. Our goal is EU membership. After 20 years, we shouldn't be asking the question why we decided to go down this road, but we should get there. The bilateral dispute should not hold countries back in their progress. We need to be allowed to seriously engage with these reforms to fulfill this objective," Gjurova stressed.

NCEU Serbian coordinator Bojana Selaković stated that the rule of law, although almost constantly emerging as an essential topic in the negotiations, the candidate countries themselves are not clear on what exactly it represents or the level at which it should be, in terms of why it is important for citizens, for the institutions of the candidate state and EU itself.

"In the end, it all comes down to economic reasons. Of course, after the war in Ukraine, the situation has changed and it is now somewhat clear that the EU's interest in enlargement is exclusively in the area of security. And that's all right. But the attitude towards standards in the process of harmonization in the area of rule of law, and messages that come in are often not harmonized, given that the EU itself is a complex structure with several levels, both political and expert... We had a situation where the president of the EC came to Belgrade and praised Serbia's progress in the field of rule of law at the highest level, but three days later the annual report on the country's progress stated something completely different. On the other hand, we are now facing the KOREPER debate, which is a purely political body, which will decide whether Serbia will open the third cluster, given that the Netherlands is very strict in terms of the rule of law and progress in the first cluster. We are in the midst of a complete communications chaos about this and whether it's okay to open Cluster 3 to Serbia," Selaković noted. 

Nirvana Deliu, Project Coordinator of NCEU in Albania, said that EU's enlargement process has become more rigid.

"The Union demands from us more reforms and monitors us more strictly, in fact we see mechanisms that do not support us to implement reforms in the field of rule of law and it starts with the new enlargement methodology that was introduced in 2020. The core values, the five chapters in Cluster 1 will now define the pace of progress in accession negotiations," Deliu added.

Frédérique Dubost, Judge for relations in the Western Balkans, stressed that politicians must respect the independence of the judiciary, adding that the work of prosecutors towards the media should be transparent because transparency increases public trust in the judiciary.

NCEU representative Marko Nikolic said that Serbia is focusing on proposed amendments in the selection of judges in Serbia, which he said, are a threat to the judiciary. He added that the personnel crisis in Serbia in terms of shortage of judges and prosecutors, as well as the smaller number of trainees, is the main reason is the poor financial situation.

Elda Zotaj, associate professor at the "Aleksandër Moisiu" University in Durrës, Albania noted that the country has long been implementing judiciary reforms, and that citizens are only now seeing results, thanks to the civil sector.

Elena Georgievska from the Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers pointed out that there is a trend of increasing the participation of civil society organizations in the creation of legal and sub-legal solutions. “It is important that the civil sector should be seen as an equal partner in the processes. Let's not allow the civil sector to be the decoration for these processes,” she said. ssh/ad/

Photo/Video: MIA