[REVISION HISTORY]

North Macedonia judicial and prosecutorial reforms

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What changed

2026-10-20 09:45 UTC → 2026-10-22 19:22 UTC · added ~~removed~~

North Macedonia ~~Constitutional Court institutional~~ judicial and prosecutorial reforms

In mid-September 2026, officials in North Macedonia focused on judicial independence and transparency. During an international conference in Ohrid, Darko Kostadinovski, President of the Constitutional Court, reported a record number of initiatives submitted to the Court in the first half of the year. To increase public trust, the Court has implemented measures such as live-streaming sessions and having judges explain decisions to the public. Experts at the conference, including Stefan Pirner from the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation, emphasized that North Macedonia needs to adopt a comprehensive constitutional complaint mechanism to allow citizens to directly protect their human rights, aligning the nation with neighboring European countries. By late September, the North Macedonia Assembly moved to address the institutional independence of the Court through legislative changes. Following a June 2026 ruling ~~by the Constitutional Court~~ that struck down parts of the Law on Salaries and Other Remunerations, the Assembly’s Commission for Issues of Elections and Appointments unanimously adopted amendments to increase salary coefficients. Under the new proposal, the coefficient for the President will rise from 2.81 to 3.08, and the coefficient for judges will increase from 2.60 to ~~2.85. These changes are scheduled to take effect~~ 2.85, effective with October 2026 ~~salary~~ payments. On October 7, 2026, the Constitutional Court convened its 24th session to review eight legal initiatives, including a challenge by lawyer Goran Nikoloski against Article 461 of the Law on Civil Procedure. By October 20, 2026, the Council of Public Prosecutors, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and the Association of Public Prosecutors called on the Constitutional Court to urgently review the constitutionality of recent salary laws. These groups argue that amendments resulting in a third reduction of salary coefficients create a disparity between judicial and prosecutorial functions and threaten the independence of the Public Prosecutor's Office. The Court has previously indicated that while the legislature can regulate salaries, there is doubt as to whether these specific reductions infringe upon constitutionally guaranteed independence.

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