The judiciary must be independent, impartial, professional and efficient and free from any political pressure. In the country there are good laws on paper, but the problem is in their implementation. With the amendments to the Criminal Code of September 7, 2023, the executive branch directly intervened in the work of the courts, thus these amendments directly affected the outcome of criminal proceedings related to high corruption that were ongoing. The statute of limitations of these high-profile cases, which were of public interest and were continuously monitored, had a negative impact on the quality of judicial authorities.

This was pointed out at the panel "Challenges of the rule of law in the Western Balkans: New horizons for old issues", within the Seventh Plenary Conference on the topic "Cluster 1: Fundamental values ​​of the EU - facing the new challenges in the context of enlargement", in organization of the National Convention for the European Union in North Macedonia (NKEU-MK).

Tomas Stražaj, director of the Slovak Association for Foreign Policy, stressed that if as a country we deal well with the rule of law, then the accession process becomes easier. - It is not by chance that Cluster 1 is called Foundations, without foundational values ​​you cannot develop a successful project, you cannot build a healthy house if you do not have good foundations, Stražaj said.

According to him, even the member states are not immune to the issue of rule of law, but therefore, he says, the European Union has developed a very effective response to it. - If the member states operate in accordance with these fundamental values, there is a mechanism that can be used, in order to make those member states that are not in accordance with it to think about correcting their functioning. The same applies to candidate countries. This means that the rule of law and fundamental values ​​are not only important for the accession process, but also in the membership itself, Stražaj said.

The President of the Legislative and Legal Commission of the Assembly, Aleksandar Veljanovskand emphasized that Macedonia is already 20 years before joining the EU and that the expectation for that step forward has been going on for too long.

- Although as a country we implemented many reforms on the way to the EU, unfortunately, even today we face unprincipled blockages that originate from bilateral issues that persistently arise as new demands and thus reduce hope and play with the patience of citizens who are critics of the processes and tend to leave the country, said Veljanovski.

As a lawyer, he added, I think that in Macedonia there are good laws on paper, but the problem is in their implementation, which creates problems in practice.

Olja Ristova, judge at the Basic Criminal Court, Skopje, emphasized that we constantly talk about reforms in the justice sector and one of the key challenges is always the influence of the executive power on the judiciary.

-Usually this influence is done through various mechanisms of the government and indirectly, and supported by the clientelism of certain holders of the public prosecutor's office. With the amendments to the Criminal Code of September 7, 2023, the executive authority directly intervened in the work of the courts. Namely, these changes directly affected the outcome of criminal proceedings related to high corruption that were ongoing. The majority of these proceedings were stopped due to the statute of limitations of the criminal prosecution, said Ristova.

She emphasized that the statute of limitations of these high-profile cases, which were of public interest and were continuously monitored, had a negative impact on the quality of judicial authorities.

- The question arises why the government had to intervene in this way? One of the reasons is that not all judges and prosecutors are susceptible to influences. It turned out that only a small part of the judges could be influenced, while the majority of the judges who were not susceptible to influence conducted the proceedings professionally and independently. A precedent took place, the government adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code, but the working group that worked on the amendments to the Criminal Code came out with the opinion that it was not informed at all about these amendments that refer to the abuse of official position and authority, the abolition of criminal liability for public purchases, criminal association and the like, Ristova pointed out.

Overall, she added, the intervention in the law was a softening of the penal policy for crimes related to high corruption.

- By drastically reducing the penalties, the obsolescence of the criminal prosecution in a large number of criminal procedures was made possible. These amendments to the Criminal Code caused strong reactions from the professional public, civil society organizations, international organizations and citizens. At the same time, they contributed to a further reduction of trust in the judiciary, which is already low, Ristova pointed out.

Radica Lazareska Gerovska, State Counselor for Enforcement, Notary and Mediation at the Ministry of Justice, assessed that when we talk about the inconsistencies in the rule of law, the problems are the same as a number of years ago, but we are expected to overcome them, in order to finally start the long-awaited process of negotiations.

- The Ministry of Justice is dedicated to providing a good and quality framework for the work of judicial institutions and their successful functioning. A whole set of measures have been determined in the direction of the rule of law, promotion, transformation, dismissal of judges and prosecutors, in order to improve the judiciary and prosecution in accordance with the EU, she said.

But for the malfunctions, she added, we must not stop at pointing the finger at one or the other, but on the contrary, we should admit that we have failed with certain decisions and therefore, she says, it is necessary to act together, because that way we can to achieve reforms in the judiciary, but this kind of commitment also requires the cooperation of the judicial authorities.

Stefan Gojkovic, president of the Association of Court Assistants in Serbia, said that the judiciary must be independent, impartial, professional and efficient. - It must be free from any political pressure. As for impartiality, there must be a clear progression system, he said.

Saimir Topuzi, expert from the directorate for policies and strategies in the field of justice, at the Ministry of Justice of Albania, said that in the absence of an independent judiciary, justice becomes unattainable for citizens.

-Albania has taken the first steps, it has addressed the recommendations from the EU report, as well as the roadmap for the rule of law. The rule of law is a constant process and goal in order to be successful, it is necessary for the institutions to join forces and build a more sustainable justice for all of us in the region, he says.

Darko Avramovski from the civil association "All for a fair trial", judged that the rule of law is not only a matter of the judiciary and the courts – the failure of the police to deal with the traffic chaos, he says, is also a matter of the rule of law, smoking in the office is a matter of the rule of law...

- The entire Western Balkans is facing the same problems and they are blinding us to not preparing for the challenges of the future. A sense of responsibility is important for the system to function. The courts cannot awaken the feeling among the citizens that justice has been served, it is a consequence of the behavior of all persons who are affected by it. As a country, we have a weak reaction in the public, there is an absence of systemic response, we don't see how the system works in practice and we all have to take responsibility and find a way to fix it, Avramovski assesses.