ANNOUNCEMENT

The Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe - GRECO, at its 99th plenary session, held in Strasbourg from 17 to 19 March 2025, adopted the Addendum to the Second Compliance Report for the Republic of North Macedonia - Fifth Round, as the last report for North Macedonia for the Fifth Round, with which it closed the compliance procedure within the framework of the Fifth Round of Evaluation for North Macedonia, i.e. closed this round.

In this Report, GRECO concluded that North Macedonia, out of a total of 23 recommendations made in the Evaluation Report (dating from March 2019), had satisfactorily implemented a total of 17 recommendations. Of the remaining recommendations, 6 were assessed as partially implemented and there were no unimplemented recommendations.

With regard to the part of the Report relating to the central government, GRECO concluded that: “a number of positive developments have been noted. The public announcement via the internet of the persons invited and present at the sessions of government committees and working groups is laid down in the new Rules of Procedure of the Government, which have been adopted. New Guidelines for the declaration and management of gifts received by the holders of the highest executive functions have also been adopted and a Gift Catalogue providing online details, including on gifts received by the holders of the highest executive functions, is under preparation.

Electronic database for the registration and verification of the declaration forms of elected and appointed public officials has been created and an analysis has been carried out to assess the processes and practices of the Department for Monitoring the Assets as a part of the State Commission for  Prevention of Corruption (SCPC). However, the results of the implementation of the recommendations made in this analysis are still pending. The progress achieved with the Analysis of the sanctions regime under the Law on the Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest is welcomed, as  well as the establishment of the Working Group, tasked with preparing draft amendments to this law, to be adopted by December 2025”.

With regard to the part of the Report concerning law enforcement bodies (Ministry of Interior), GRECO concluded that “progress can also be noted. Activities have been carried out to strengthen the operational independence of the police, including through inspection activity and training of officers on the new provisions and prohibitions. Additional evidence has been provided regarding the functioning of the internal and external oversight mechanisms of the police. In this regard, more efforts can be made regarding the objectivity and transparency of periodic assessments, as well as the practical application of the legislation on whistleblower protection”.

We are particularly happy that we are closing this circle quite quickly, and especially that we are closing it faster and more successfully than other much more developed Council of Europe member states.

At the moment, the Republic of North Macedonia does not have an open GRECO evaluation round, and initial activities are underway to prepare for the 6th evaluation round, which will focus on a very important topic for us, that is: “Preventing corruption at the sub-national or local level”.