Macedonia's Judicial Council president warns of inadequate lay‑judge compensation

President of the Judicial Council Aleksandar Kambovski said the current daily allowance for court lay judges – 570 to 670 denars paid for an entire day regardless of the number of hearings – is "not paid per hearing but for the whole day. A lay judge can attend up to ten hearings in a day and receive the same allowance." He noted that the regulation governing these payments is over 15 years old and does not reflect today’s economic conditions. Kambovski warned that the insufficient pay could lead to a shortage of lay judges, whose participation is mandatory in many proceedings. The council has repeatedly appealed to the Ministry of Justice and the government for a faster resolution, and expects a new regulation to be issued soon. Recent changes to the law raised the retirement age for lay judges from 60 to 67, but compensation remains unchanged.