The prime minister Christian Mickoski stated that he would not support the introduction of bilingualism or multilingualism in the judiciary, stressing that the legal system must function in a single language.
Answering a parliamentary question from Ilire DoughtyMickoski emphasized that the judiciary should be based on the Macedonian language as the only official language in this area.
– I will never support bilingualism in the judiciary. We must have one law, a Macedonian law, to ensure the rule of law – said the Prime Minister.
He added that the Government will try to find a solution for candidates who want to take the bar exam in their native language, including Albanian, to have such an opportunity, but with unique and equal evaluation criteria.
Mickoski also referred to the opinion of Venice Commissionwhich, he said, recommends abandoning bilingualism in the judiciary and returning to the legal framework of 2008–2009.
-From 2020 until today, 918 candidates have been registered to take the bar exam. Of them, 196 were Albanians, 27 did not pass, of which nine re-registered and all passed. The percentage of Albanian candidates passed is 95.75 percent according to the current methodology, which means that we cannot talk about discrimination. I have no objection and I am of the opinion that everyone should be able to take the exam in their native language. The Venice Commission stated very clearly and precisely in its opinion on the Law on Languages, it says – “in the judiciary, bilingualism should be abandoned and the law from 2008-2009 should be abandoned. Belgium and Switzerland are not good examples, they are confederations, federations, we are talking about unitary states and there is no second example. We must be aware that the judiciary must be in one language, and that is Macedonian, and this discussion must end here. If we accept that fact everyone, we have to find a way to pass the judicial exam equally, and I don’t see a problem here. I hope they will come up with a solution, because it is a working group that we can all vote on.
Regarding the Law on Languages, note, the average lawyer will say that it is poorly written.
-Unfortunately, those who carried the Law on Languages back then did not take into account many legal aspects. I, among other things, am not a lawyer, I am an engineer. But I read, I read… and what could I conclude? The Law itself states that if the laws are not harmonized within one year, then they are automatically harmonized. How will you harmonize a special law with a general law? How will you harmonize the Lex Generalis with the Lex Specialis? I am not a lawyer, you will explain to me. Unless the Members of Parliament do it. The second question is why those laws were not harmonized then – underlined the Prime Minister.
