Skopje, 19 December 2023 (MIA) – Delivering his annual address to the Parliament on Tuesday, President Stevo Pendarovski sent a message to the next parliamentary composition, urging that immediately after the elections, a purge of judges and prosecutors, as well as politicians, should start.

Pendarovski in his address also referred to the problem with corruption that the country is facing noting that “unfortunately, one gets the impression that the US and the European Union are more zealous fighters against corruption in our country than our institutions.”

“Here, my message for the next parliament composition is what I have already publicly proposed several times: immediately after the elections, a purge of both judges and prosecutors is necessary, but, first of all, of us - the politicians. And for anyone, for whom there is no logical explanation as to how he became a millionaire with a state salary, not only resignation, but criminal proceedings should immediately follow,” Pendarovski said.

Pendarovski emphasized that for years, as he stated, we have been facing resistance from several sides during every attempt at substantial reforms in the justice system.

“The reason for that is the connection between parts of the political and business community with some of the judges and prosecutors, which in the past decades created an atmosphere in which we have developed endemic corruption that threatens the vitality of the state. In the medium and long term, the quality of human potential, of candidates for judges and prosecutors, is crucial. No law can change the reality if the only criterion for selection is negative selection based on party clientelism and ties to the oligarchy. When I say responsibility for the committed acts, I do not mean the statistics of convicted “pickpockets” that serve to mislead the public, but the number and quality of final verdicts in the sphere of high corruption and organized crime. Only in this way will it be confirmed that the laws apply to everyone, even the most powerful and the richest,” he underlined.

“Unfortunately, one gets the impression that the US and the European Union are more zealous fighters against corruption in our country than our institutions. However, foreign sanctions are not enough, not least because they are not followed by domestic sanctions. Namely, we are facing a much deeper problem, because corruption, in the meantime, has become a way of life for many, or as a foreign ambassador recently described it, it is a question of people’s mentality that must be changed. At the same time, two aspects of the problem further emphasize its proportions,” he said.

First, as he noted, if initiated at all, the processes of high corruption are extremely slow and uncertain, which reinforces the perception among citizens that justice is slow, and yet unattainable.

Second, Pendarovski noted, even the few successfully completed court trials are limited to a specific period of time, and there is almost always a lack of continuity in the state’s actions, especially after changes in government at the central or local level.

“Such vacuum periods practically nullify the effects of the rare successful cases of corruption against public office holders,” Pendarovski underscored.

Photo: MIA archive/ print screen