Skopje, 28 March 2025 (MIA) - The European Union’s Ambassador to North Macedonia, Michalis Rokas, stressed Friday the recommendations from the country reports and the peer review mission must be implemented since they are a part of the EU standards and the rule of law. Rokas noted that the EU is closely monitoring the process for the dismissal of Chief Prosecutor Ljupcho Kocevski and stressed the importance of providing the judiciary with sufficient means to do its job.

Quizzed about the interpellations of members of the Judicial Council, the Ambassador told a Sitel TV interview that the country’s laws and the due process must be followed. Rokas also highlighted the EU’s recommendations provided in the annual country reports and the peer review mission.

“We have given many recommendations in the annual reports that we publish every year around October for the country, on the enlargement process, the peer review mechanism on the Judicial Council but also a specific report on the rule of law. For us, these recommendations need to be followed. And of course, as you rightly said those interpellations do not give legal ground for dismissals, what gives legal ground for dismissals are the laws of the country and the due process which has to be followed according to the best European practices. So, those interpellations, for us, are a matter of concern,” Ambassador Rokas noted.

Regarding the procedure for Chief Prosecutor Kocevski’s dismissal, Rokas said the EU is closely monitoring developments and added that the most important thing is to establish an independent judiciary.

“Obviously we are monitoring all this very closely, and what matters the most is to establish, work hard to have an independent judiciary and a Public Prosecutor’s Office or Council of Public Prosecutors that they can do all the necessary reforms within the systems. It’s all about process, due process of the judicial system and not about individuals. Therefore, of course we take note that this was the intention and now this has been halted, but I want to stress again that it is absolutely necessary to establish a system whereby the judiciary can work but also recruit, dismiss, through procedures that they are not prone to any outside or political influence,” the Ambassador said.

The EU Ambassador also underscored the importance of providing the judiciary with sufficient means to do its job.

“But also, what matters is to give the judiciary sufficient means to do its work. The courts, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the different councils they need to have the means and the budget to do the work without any interference and I believe that this is understood well, and the Government is working towards that end,” Rokas said.

Photo: MIA Archive