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News and Events ANNOUNCEMENT
The Commission does not allow appeals against a notification
The Macedonian Young Lawyers' Association and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM), within the framework of the project "Free access to public information” inform you on a monthly basis about the status of the exercising of the right to free access to public information.
As we are getting closer to tomorrow, September 1st, when we are marking four years from the beginning of the implementation of the Law on Free Access to Public Information, a period during which both the information holders and the citizens began to become aware of the existence and importance of the right to free access to public information, the Commission for the Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information managed to take the implementation of the Law a step back with its own decisions.
| | | | Sixth Quarterly Accession Watch Report
Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) have prepared the Sixth Quarterly Accession Watch Report titled "About the less less positive things", covering the period from April to July 2010.
Monitoring the situation of the eurointegration of the Republic of Macedonia, the report includes data and analyses in the following areas that have proven to be the most important in this period: the problems with the political dialogue; the situation in the judiciary; problems in the prisons; the level of democracy, (non)existence of political will to combat corruption; problems with the reforms of the public administration; the situation in the public enterprises; employments etc. In addition to the analyses, the Report contains conclusions and recommendations on the steps that all institutions should take so that the year 2010 would not be just another lost year in the European integration process of Macedonia.
Download the Sixth Quarterly Accession Watch Report "About the less less positive things“ (.pdf) | | | | | | | | Analysis of the dispersion in higher education
 On August 23, 2010, Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia held a press conference in the CEM club presenting the findings from FOSIM’s analysis of the dispersed studies.
The total number of faculties in the country (private, state and dispersed) has been almost tripled (from 38 in 2004 to 99 faculties in 2009). This euphoric dispersion of the higher education was initiated by a Government’s decree, without an analysis of the actual needs of the labour market and the available resources of the universities, without an adequate expert public debate and without provided conditions (appropriate facilities, teaching staff, etc..) said Zoran T. Popovski PhD, who presented the key findings of the analysis. The process of dispersion is facing numerous shortcomings and will have far-reaching consequences for the higher education in Macedonia – from a ruined reputation of the academic profession, to an undermined university autonomy, leading to many new university "professors" overnight, irrational spending of budget funds, and most importantly, poor quality of the educational services.
Field research has shown that students would leave the dispersed studies and continue their studies at their faculties/universities in the main university centres if they are provided with appropriate financial assistance in the form of a scholarship or favourable loan.
The analysis titled "The quality of higher education is in question – dispersion as a Macedonian phenomenon” is based on the data from the available documents, the opinions of students at dispersed studies collected through field research, and based on the opinions/views of university staff and the general public regarding the dispersed studies, expressed in the media.
The analysis was prepared within the framework of FOSIM’s project “European policies and Macedonian education” aimed at strengthening the European perspective of education in the Republic of Macedonia.
| | | | ECONOMIC REFORMS PROGRAM
My Money - Personal Finance Management Manual
Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia published the publication "My Money - Personal Finance Management Manual" by the Croatian author Stribor Erega as part of the Personal Finance Management Project. The publication has been translated from Croatian into Macedonian language, and adapted in accordance to the Macedonian legislature and the conditions of the local finance products markets.
The goal of the manual is to help readers break free from overwhelming indebtedness and how to smartly manage their personal and family budgets. | | | | | | | | TRILATERAL FORUM
Opening Dialogue and Developing Relations among Think Tanks in Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania
The trilateral forum “Opening Dialogue and Developing Relations among Think Tanks in
Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania” will be held on July 14th (Wednesday) 10:00h, in the Hotel Continental, Skopje. The forum is an initiating event within the framework of the project for connecting research centres in these three countries.
The project is initiated by Forum - Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation, Skopje in partnership with the KIPRED Institute, Pristina and the Albanian Media Institute, Tirana.
The project is aiming at creating a platform for promoting and devising more specific forms of joint actions and projects of the research centres in both a long-term and short-term perspective. The development of an intellectual think-tank line between Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, in cooperation with the academic, NGO and media community from all three countries will be aimed at improving the cooperation between the influential centres of these neighbouring countries from the Balkans.
The event will consist of three thematic sessions dedicated to the cultural and academic cooperation, media and NGO cooperation and inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo.
Speakers at the event: Slavica Indzevska, Gjuner Ismail, Kim Mehmeti, Aleksandar Matovski, Sasho Ordanovski, Adelina Marku, Zoran Bojarovski from Macedonia, Remzi Lani, Piro Misha, Adri Nurelari from Albania and Ili Hoxha, Krenar Gashi, Burim Ejupi, Alejtin Berisha from Kosovo.
The project is financially supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia through the East East: Partnership Beyond Borders program.
Download the agenda (.pdf, 449 KB)
| | | | ANNOUNCEMENT
The start of the application of the Law on free legal assistance marked by many discovered omissions in the text of the Law!
On the occasion of the beginning of the implementation of the Law on free legal assistance1, which was adopted in December 2009, and became effective on July 7, 2010, the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association (MYLA) supported by Guardians of Civil Rights, held an informational meeting on the topic "Challenges before the establishment of the free legal assistance system in the Republic of Macedonia".
The meeting, held at the Holiday Inn hotel, was the last of the series of meetings with citizens’ associations that took place throughout Macedonia over the last month as part of the project "Monitoring of the application of the Law on free legal assistance," implemented by FOSIM and MYLA. The meeting was attended by representatives of associations that are providing legal assistance as part of their activities, as well as representatives of state institutions whose jurisdiction covers certain aspects of the implementation of the Law (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Public Revenue Office, Central Register of the Republic of Macedonia, etc.).
During the meeting, the representative of the Ministry of Justice presented the solutions provided in the Law, whereas the representatives of FOSIM and MYLA presented some of the dilemmas arising from the text of the Law, that could lead to problems for its implementation. The narrow scope of the Law, i.e. the small number of potential beneficiaries of free legal assistance was said to be part of the weaknesses of the text of the law, as well as the difficult conditions for associations to obtain authorization for providing free legal assistance and the vague and imprecise solutions in the Law that would lead to problems in practice. During the discussion, some of the representatives of the associations were sceptic as to the motivation of associations to apply for authorization for providing free legal assistance, due to the very difficult conditions.
FOSIM and MYLA will continuously monitor the process of implementation of the Law, and an analysis will be prepared about the application of the Law in the first year after its adoption.
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1"Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia" No. 161/2009
| | | | | | | | LAW PROGRAM
The citizens interested in the right to free access to public information
Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia and the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association are familiarizing the Macedonian citizens with the right to free access to public information through the project "The right to know, the right to participate".
Today (July 5th, 10-13h), an information stand was placed before the building of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, where the interested citizens were asking questions and getting legal assistance concerning free access to public information.
Leaflets in Macedonian and Albanian language were distributed to more than 200 citizens who were willing to know more about the right to free access to public information. In addition, 100 Comments on the Law on free access to public information and on the amendments to the law effective since June 1st this year were also distributed.
This meeting with the citizens is the second of the four planned for 2010 as part of the project "The right to know, the right to participate!".
| | | | LAW PROGRAM
Free access to information, meetings with citizens
The Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia marked the beginning of the implementation of amendments to the Law on Free Access to Public Information on June 28, 2010 (Monday), 10:00h.
For this purpose, a stand was placed before the building of the Macedonian Radio and Television (10-14:00h) and educational leaflets for free access to public information were being distributed. At the same time, citizens were able to ask questions and obtain legal assistance regarding free access.
250 leaflets were distributed to the citizens who were interested in the right to free access to information. "We believe that through these direct meetings with the citizens we will be able to raise the awareness about the existence of this right, because according to the research carried out last year, more than 60 percent of the citizens are not familiar with this law," - Jasmina Brezovska from the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association stated for Makfax.
Some of the more important novelties in the law which came into force are: (1) deadline for response to a verbal request for free access is now reduced from ten to three days, (2) introduction of a harmfulness test as a mandatory procedure which the Information Holder is required to conduct prior to denying access, and (3) an obligation for information holders to inform the public about their work by publishing their work reports, as well as the laws and bylaws related to their scope of work, statistics etc.
The event was covered by some of the Macedonian media:
À1: http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/default.aspx?VestID=124736
Ìàê ôàêñ: http://www.makfax.com.mk/_home/home#110962
Íåò ïðåñ: http://www.netpress.com.mk/vest.asp?id=73639&kategorija=1
ÌÐÒ: http://www.mrt.com.mk//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30428&Itemid=27
Àëôà ÒÂ: http://www.vesti.alfa.mk/default.aspx?mId=36&egId=6&eventId=24307
This meeting with the citizens is the first of the four planned to take place in 2010 as part of the project "I have the right to know, the right to participate!" implemented by the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association and supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia.
Doanload the leaflet "Free Access to Public Information" (only in Macedonian) (.pdf)
| | | | | | | | VIGOROUS DISCUSSION OF HUNDREDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE:
What does the Republic of Macedonia offer to its youth?
 Young people should demand more and if necessary even get into a conflict with the government, but that must be in the interest of the society and state. This is one of the messages of about a hundred young people, participating at the debate which was held last night, June 15 in the CEM club. The discussion, organized by the Youth Educational Forum (YEF) and the Citizens for European Macedonia movement (CEM), confirmed as relevant and important the questions about the uncertain future of the young by delaying the EU integration, and the exclusion of the youth from the decision-making processes on all state levels.
According to the young participants in the debate, youth is not only the future of Macedonia, but also the present and we can not speak about the EU if the young are required to be members of a political party if they want to be employed.
"If the problem is in Macedonia, the solution is in the EU. Otherwise, the youth will lose the opportunity to live like the western world and we will continue to be offered political abuse by all political parties”. - said Andreja Stojkovski, president of the Macedonian Centre for European Training.
 Calling for activism, high school graduate Marinela Majnova from the NGO Focus from Veles suggested that we must not disseminate the false thesis that if Macedonia joins the EU, there will be a mass exodus of the country’s youth.
Martin Galevski also confirmed the confusion of many young people in Macedonia, presenting initial data from the latest survey of YEF. According to the partially processed results of the survey, 40% of high school students in Macedonia believe that the government’s decisions do not affect their life, while 48% of them do not see their future in this country 10 years from now. Participants in the debate stressed the necessity of joining the young people around their interests, and the need to actively implement youth policy. "We must learn to work together, even for small and unusual purposes," said Nikola Gelevski from CEM.
 According to Dona Kosturanova from YEF, the official representatives of student and high school organizations are also the culprits for the apathy among young people.
"Working in politics does not make you a criminal. It means you have decided to express your views publicly”, believes Kristina Lelovac from the Social political ineligible theatre, adding that the youth could bring democracy to Macedonia, with their reasoned actions.
The discussions with the audience at the three-hour debate of YEF and CEM were opened by Bojan Maricic (Youth Educational Forum), Andreja Stojkovski (Macedonian Center for European Training), Mersel Bilali (Citizens for European Macedonia), Marinela Majnova (Local Youth Initiative - Veles, NGO Focus ) Martin Galevski (Youth Educational Forum), Anastas Vangeli (analyst and blogger), Marjan Zabrchanec (Youth Educational Forum), Dona Kosturanova (Youth Educational Forum), Nicholas Gelevski (Citizens for European Macedonia), Jabir Derala (CIVIL), Christina Lelovac (Social political ineligible theatre), Sead Dzigal (blogger), Arti Kormemeti (Local Youth Initiative - Debar, Centre for Sustainable Community Development). | | | | CIA Rendition Case Reaches Top European Court
Macedonia Challenged for Complicity in Wrongful Abduction
Contact:
Rachel Aicher, +1 (212) 548-0135, +1 (917) 294-2641, raicher@sorosny.org (New York)
Filip Medarski, +389 70 333 552, filipmedarski@yahoo.com (Macedonia)
NEW YORK, June 14, 2010—The European Court of Human Rights will consider the case of a German citizen who was kidnapped and beaten in connection with the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program, the Open Society Justice Initiative revealed today. This is the first time an extraordinary rendition case related to the “war on terror” has reached Europe’s top court.
Macedonian security forces seized Khaled El-Masri at the request of the United States in December 2003 and held him—incommunicado—for 23 days. El-Masri was then handed over to the CIA and flown to a detention center in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was confined in appalling conditions, interrogated, and abused. After several months, El-Masri was finally released and dumped on a roadside in Albania. Despite overwhelming evidence of its collaboration, Macedonia has denied that El-Masri was detained illegally on its territory or handed over to the CIA.
“European governments must be held accountable for participating in torture, abuse, and kidnappings in association with the CIA’s rendition program,” said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is litigating the case. “United States courts may have closed their doors on this matter, but we hope that El-Masri will find justice before the European Court.”
As with rendition survivor Maher Arar, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear El-Masri’s case. The U.S. government asserted the “state secrets privilege” when challenged in the United States, which resulted in the case’s dismissal. The United States has yet to publicly acknowledge El-Masri’s rendition. He has never been charged with a crime or given any explanation for his treatment.
“Official recognition of what happened is essential for survivors like El-Masri, who are trying to deal with this traumatic experience and move on with their lives,” said Rupert Skilbeck, Justice Initiative litigation director. “Khaled El-Masri has a right to public acknowledgement of the injustice he has suffered, and the people of Europe have a right to know the truth about how their governments colluded with the CIA.”
In May, the Open Society Justice Initiative sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, requesting that the U.S. government publicly confirm that it wrongly rendered El-Masri, as well as provide, in light of its observer status with the Council of Europe, any assistance sought by the European Court. The Justice Initiative also wrote to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, asking her to confirm that the United States government has privately acknowledged its error in El-Masri’s case, as was widely reported in 2005. The letter encouraged Germany to consider intervening in the case on El-Masri’s behalf.
Secretary Clinton has not responded to the Justice Initiative to date. The German government replied, referring the Justice Initiative to a transcript of Merkel’s previous remarks, in which she acknowledged that the U.S. privately admitted to having wrongfully detained El-Masri.
The Open Society Justice Initiative uses law to protect and empower people around the world. Through litigation, advocacy, research, and technical assistance, the Justice Initiative promotes human rights and builds legal capacity for open societies. | | | | | | | | The call for protection of citizens’ privacy submitted to the Assembly
Fifteen organizations assisting the development of the Republic of Macedonia in various aspects, reacted to the threats to privacy and democracy contained in the Draft-Law amending the Law on Electronic Communications, on June 11, calling for the withdrawal of the law from parliamentary procedure.
The call has been supported by more than 250 citizens so far, including prominent solicitors and other intellectuals, and was prepared based on expert analyses, taking into account the views of relevant stakeholders, especially NGOs dealing with human rights protection, expressed in public and at the round table "Privacy in Macedonia" held on June 4, 2010 in Skopje.
The reason for this reaction to the proposed amendments is that those amendments are creating legal opportunities for arbitrary and unlimited use of eavesdropping and other forms of interception of electronic communications that violate the basic postulates of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia (Article 17 and 25) that guarantee the inviolability of all forms of communication and protection of privacy and dignity.
The proposed amendments are in direct contravention with the European Convention on Human Rights and other international agreements ratified by the Macedonian Assembly and the EU Directive 2009/136/EC. The amendments circumvent the norms established by the Law on Personal Data Protection, the Law on Interception of Communications and the Law on Criminal Procedure, and grant the Ministry of Interior with a “constant and direct access” to telecommunication networks’ traffic data.
The initiative launched by the Metamorphosis Foundation, Transparency Macedonia, FOSIM and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights was supported by the Macedonian Centre for European Training, FORUM - CSID, Kontrapunkt, the Council for Global Cooperation, Reactor, YEF, Children's Theatre Centre, CA Common Values, the Centre for Media Development, Freedom Square and Free Software Macedonia.
The full text of the call is available on the website of the Metamorphosis Foundation, and was also submitted to all MPs in Parliament, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Transport and Communications, and to the Delegation of the EU to Macedonia along with relevant supporting documents.
| | | | DECLARATION
Respecting the clearly expressed desire of most of the citizens of the Republic of
Macedonia to become part of the European Union and NATO,
Fully aware that in the last two years, irrespective of the progress made in the reform
process, especially before and after receiving the EU candidate-country status,
Macedonia did not live up to the expectations of its European partners and friends,
Understanding the necessity of eliminating the biggest obstacle of the accession
process of Macedonia within NATO and the European Union – the persistent name
dispute with the Republic of Greece,
Sincerely determined to reaffirm the Euro-Atlantic agenda by means of cooperation
and to improve security, stability, interethnic relations and the economy of the
country,
In light of the upcoming European Council, we, the undersigned signatories, adopted
in Skopje, on 11th June 2010 the following
D E C L A R A T I O N
1. The internal integration of Macedonia is tightly intertwined with its integration within
the European Union and NATO since our country shares the civilisation values on
which the Euro-Atlantic integrations are firmly based on;
2. We do not accept the problems encountered on the road of accomplishing our
strategic objective, which resulted from the irrational dispute that has no bearing in
the relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece and
between both neighbouring nations to be an excuse for our country to abandon the
Euro-integration process;
3. We announce our earnest support and commitment to resolve the name dispute
with Greece, thereby replacing the provisional reference “Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia” with a solution that will not pose a threat or jeopardise the attributes of
the ethnic identity of the majority population in our country in a manner inherent to
responsible politicians, with intensive, pro-active and fruitful talks;
4. We believe that a wide public debate in the Republic of Macedonia is necessary to
fulfil these objectives, to encourage pro-European forces, and to break the
stigmatizing attitude towards the European idea due to the tension created by the
name dispute with Greece and the emotions set thereof;
5. We believe that responsible politicians should not avoid leadership obligations,
and we are prepared to contribute in that respect;
6. We call upon the European Union, USA, the Republic of Greece, and all other
European friends to recognise the pro-European forces in our country, as
demonstrated by this Declaration, and to decide to encourage the citizens of the
Republic of Macedonia by strongly supporting their hopes and energising their drive
for European integration of our country.
Skopje, 11th June 2010
| | | | | | | | LAW PROGRAM
Promotion of publications on personal data protection
 Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Directorate for Personal Data Protection (DPDP) promoted the publications: "Comments on the Law on Personal Data Protection" and "Guide for practical implementation of the Rulebook on technical and organizational measures for ensuring secrecy and protection of personal data processing", on June 7. The purpose of these publications is to raise the level of personal data protection.
The Comments on the Law on Personal Data Protection review the systematics of the Law and serve as a tool for its better understanding and implementation. On the other hand, the Guide for the practical implementation of the Rulebook explains the methods and offers solutions for the controllers and people processing the data in the process of ensuring secrecy and protection of the personal data processing, depending on the nature of the data, such as the processing and the risks during the personal data processing.
According to Valentina Dimkovska from the Directorate for Personal Data Protection (DPDP), although the Law on Personal Data Protection is in full compliance with the European standards, and has received words of praise from the relevant European institutions, it can still be better implemented.
 On the eve of the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the legal framework for personal data protection in the Republic of Macedonia, the Comments on the Law will aim to contribute to overcoming the identified problems in terms of realizing the protection of personal data.
Aside from the publication, the numerous guests had the opportunity to ask questions related to personal data protection, and the representatives of FOSIM and DPDP were elaborating segments (via examples and presentations) of the Law on Personal Data Protection, that were indicated as problematic segments in the practical application of the Law.
The publications are result of the long term cooperation between the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia and the Directorate for Personal Data Protection.
| | | | PRESS CONFERENCE OF MCET AND FOSIM
Macedonia must not give up the EU integration
 At the press conference held on June 4th, Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) urged the Macedonian government not to give up the EU integration and to be fully committed to implementing the reforms.
During the press conference, the results and impressions from last week's summit in Sarajevo, "EU-Western Balkans" were presented. At the summit, the written address by about 500 NGOs from Western Balkan countries was presented, with which they are requiring the opening of a new chapter in the negotiations of the EU with the Western Balkans countries. “Through the press conference in Sarajevo, we have sent a clear and unambiguous message that the EU must provide clear and precise guidelines on how each of the Western Balkans countries should act, in order to make the accession process visible and accessible for the countries from the region. The initiative was accepted very well, especially by the EU officials and representatives of the European Parliament, who saw this initiative as a step forward when it comes to the civil society sector and a kind of a signal that the citizens of these countries want to see their countries in the EU," said Fani-Karanfilova-Panovska from FOSIM and added that the EU has not yet lost interest for the Western Balkans, which is best reflected in the 2020 Development Strategy.
Lidija Dimova from MCET expressed her concern about the apparent indifference of the government when it comes to European integration. According to her, this is obvious due to the reluctance to reach a compromise with Greece, the halted reforms, and the overall foreign policy activities. Dimova suggested that the bilateral disputes should be resolved in a European spirit. "The European spirit means finding a compromise that would show that you are a leader and that you can see the future".
According to FOSIM’s executive director, Vladimir Milcin, the reasons for the standstill of the EU accession process lay not only in the name dispute, but in failing to implement the necessary reforms. "The more reforms we implement, the less weight the bilateral problem has, i.e. the more successful we are in the reforms, the more arguments other EU members will have for exerting pressure on Greece; and the more unsuccessful we are in the reforms, the stronger the arguments of Greece will be.” said Milcin.
| | | | | | | | EROSION OF PRIVACY IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
With the draft-amendments to the Law on Electronic Communications, the right to privacy in the Republic of Macedonia is again at stake these days. This is not the first time that the government is seriously limiting the right to privacy, one of the fundamental civil rights, without opening a wider public debate on such an important issue. The allegedly "technical" law on electronic communications is actually an attempt for intrusion into the most protected spheres of privacy guaranteed by the international agreements on human rights and the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. Namely, with the proposed amendments, this Law is actually entering the sphere of criminal law, since it projects new authorizations for the police and secret services, beyond the already stipulated authorizations with the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Interception of Communications.
The entire announcement can be downloaded from the following link www.transparentnost-mk.org.mk/wp-content/uploads/microsoft-word-soopstenie-za-zek.pdf
The announcement is part of the Project: “Monthly reports on the situation in the fight against crime and corruption and the situation with transparency in the society” implemented by Transparency Macedonia, and supported by FOSIM.
| | | | PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM PROGRAM
Results from the public procurements monitoring published
 Today (June 1), the Center for Civil Communications published the results from the regular public procurements monitoring in the country and the results from the survey of companies about their experience with the public procurement procedures.
Presenting the Quarterly report with the results from the public procurements monitoring in the Republic of Macedonia for the period from January to March 2010, Mrs. Vanja Mihajlova and Nikola Tupancheski PhD stressed that there is still space for improvement of the public procurement process in the country especially in terms of more consistent abiding by the legislation by the state institutions, and they also emphasized the need to further stipulate the legal provisions to reduce the space for possible abuses in practice.
The monitoring of the public procurements at a central and local level resulted with the following findings key findings:
• Increased use of scoring criteria for the bids which doesn’t guarantee the selection of the most favourable bid;
• Inadequate criteria are selected for determining the ability of companies to participate in public procurement procedures;
• High percentage of annulled public procurement procedures (20% of the monitored procedures);
• e-auction is only used in 5.5% of the public procurement procedures, which is several times less than the legal threshold of 30%;
• Rapidly increasing number of framework agreements concluded without specifying the ways in which contracts are awarded to firms;
• The legal obligation to inform the companies in detail about the reasons for selection of the most favourable bid or rejection of a certain bidder is not adhered to;
• The requests for submitting a bank guarantee for the bid as well as the amount of the guarantee are reduced,
• The fee for obtaining the tender documentation is being slightly reduced.
In the survey conducted for representatives of the public procurement departments of 138 companies, members of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia and the Union of Chambers of Commerce, the main problems that companies said they were facing in public procurement procedures were: vague tender documentation and technical specification, improper scoring of the bids and favouring a certain bid; use of inadequate criteria to award the contract, and late payment for the assets and services supplied. The score of the companies in the country in the overall public procurement process has dropped. The average score in this survey is now 2.80 as opposed to last year's score of 2.93 (on a scale of 1 to 5).
The complete report is available at the website of the Center for Civil Communications www.ccc.org.mk. | | | | | | | | LAW PROGRAM
Training for journalists "Discrimination and Media” held
 FOSIM organized a training for journalists from several national and local electronic and print media, which was held on May 28-30, 2010, in the "Bistra" hotel.
The training covered several topics in the area of the principle of equality and non-discrimination: introduction to the concept, the foundations and forms of discrimination and their presentation in the media, introduction of the new mechanism established with the Law on prevention and protection against discrimination and compliance of the Macedonian legislation with EU legislation in the field.
 During the practical part of the training, special attention was paid to the double role of the media, as a factor of discrimination on one hand, and as an instrument to combat discrimination on the other hand, and to raise public awareness about this social phenomenon. Participants had the opportunity to discuss several domestic and foreign examples about the position of the media in addressing discrimination. Throughout the discussions, representatives of the media shared the experiences from their daily work.
| | | | Press conference of MCET and Zoran Thaler (MEP)
Thaler: Government should take responsibility and find a resolution to the name dispute
 Rapporteur for Macedonia in the European Parliament, Zoran Thaler, at today’s press conference (May 27) organized by the Macedonian Centre for European Training, urged the Macedonian PM to gather strength and resolve the name dispute, otherwise Europe could soon lose its interest in Macedonia.
"Without a resolution to the name dispute, there cannot be a negotiations date. The government should take responsibility and cross the Rubicon”, said Thaler, discussing the perspectives of Macedonia at the upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit which is to be held in Sarajevo in early June. According to the Slovenian rapporteur, the Macedonian Prime Minister should not fear that he is alone in this process. “He should count on the support from the civil society sector and the influential intermediaries, kind-heartedly accept the suggestions, because in the process of finding a resolution, no matter how difficult that may be, one should be much more active."
Thaler noted that Europe is starting to believe that Macedonia is losing interest in EU membership, hence there is a risk for Macedonia to be removed from the European agenda and Europe may not be interested in Macedonia anymore.
Thaler reminded of the need for Macedonia to reactivate the reform process and also announced that he would take an initiative in the European Parliament for bilateral issues, if not resolved within a certain period, to be automatically transferred to international arbitration, meaning that the accession progress of the potential candidates would not be limited.
During the press conference, Member of the European Parliament – Zoran Thaler and MCET presented the Declaration of the non-governmental organizations from the Western Balkans, in which they are asking the President of the EU, the Governments of the EU member states and the President of the European Commission for a new momentum and approach for the EU integration negotiations.
According to Lidija Dimova from the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET), the Declaration - which will be officially presented on June 1 at the Ministerial meeting in Sarajevo, proves that the civil society sector of the Western Balkans can be united when it comes to European integration. "The NGOs have agreed to hold a joint press conference in Sarajevo on the first of June, just before the summit. This is when we are planning to officially present the declaration and later deliver it to the conference participants”, Dimova said.
The declaration, among other things, is emphasizing that bilateral issues should be resolved by the parties involved, and that they must not hinder the accession process, as well as the negotiations date for Macedonia this year.
Audio recording from the conference
| | | | | | | | MOMENT OF TRUTH
On the eve of the European Council meeting which is to be held in Sarajevo on June 16-17, a Ministerial meeting of the EU and Western Balkans countries plus the European Commission (EU Enlargement commissioner Stefan Fule) and the High Representative Katherine Ashton, Turkey, Russia and the United States will be held on June 2. This summit in Sarajevo is expected to result with conclusions confirming the European perspective of the Western Balkans countries and retaining the region’s EU integration process.
We (Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia - FOSIM and the Macedonian Centre for European Training - MCET) as representatives of the civil society, believe that we should present our position and our expectations for the summit. For this purpose, we have prepared the below provided Declaration with logistical support from the Open Society Institutes throughout the region. As you can see, we are requesting a negotiations date for Macedonia by the end of 2010, at the latest.
All of you who agree with the theses in this Declaration, please provide your support by signing it and sending your letter of support along with your organization’s general information (name and address, e-mail address and telephone number of the contact person) in electronic form to: mcet@mcet.org.mk
We are planning to hold a press conference on June 1st in Sarajevo and distribute our Declaration before the beginning of the ministerial meeting, and at the press conference we would like to publicize all the regional organizations that have provided their support.
Download the Declaration
| | | | Second International Seminar: Postgraduate courses in Law, Human Rights and Patient Care
Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM), in collaboration with the Law and Health Network Program of the Open Society Institute - New York, the Program for awarding grants for projects on human rights from the Open Society Institute in Budapest and the Faculty of Law and Medicine in Skopje, holds the Second International Seminar on Postgraduate courses in Law and Health, dedicated to human rights and patient care (May 18-21, 2010).
Professors and experts from seven countries (Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine) shall participate at the seminar, and the topics covered are related to the public health and its relation to the fundamental human rights.
During the first part of the seminar, participants had the opportunity to share experiences in the area of public health and human rights, to discuss topics such as commercialization of the public health, organization of health education, new technologies in healthcare, restriction of human rights in public health etc.
Bridget Toubs, PhD, professor at the University in Aberdeen held a presentation on privatization and commercialization of health care. Representatives from the prestigious medical academy “Bogomolec” from Kiev familiarized the participants with the unique experiences of organizing medical education in Ukraine. The seminar continued with a review of specific court cases dedicated to human rights, sharing of experiences from different countries about respecting human rights, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The second part of the seminar, held on May 20, included a panel discussion in which prominent experts participated, and during which the global development in the area of public health and human rights was presented, using examples and experiences from Canada, USA , Scotland, Denmark and Hungary. Robert Lawrence, a doctor and professor of medicine at the School of Public Health Bloomberg, using examples of doctors in the Nazi concentration camps to cases in Abu Ghraib, spoke about the abuse by the medics, who sometimes consciously or even forcibly forget the Hippocratic oath.
The seminar ends Friday, May 21.
| | | | | | | | Promotions in Kichevo and Kratovo
The promotion of the three books from the new edition “The City” (“Disorder and grotesque", “They’re stealing city” and “Architorture and antiquisation”), continued on May 4-5 in Kichevo and Kratovo.
On May 4, the editor of the edition, Nikola Gelevski, promoted the books before thirty visitors of the NGO support centre in Kichevo. The afternoon was quite interesting, with a live conversation between the citizens attending the promotion and Nikola Gelevski, who was speaking primarily as an editor of the edition, but also on behalf of GEM (“Citizens for European Macedonia”) and “Freedom Square”. In his opening address Gelevski presented the key arguments against the project “Skopje 2014”, especially emphasizing the nationalist background of the project that could disturb the already delicate interethnic relations. In the conversation that ensued, some of the citizens brought up the catastrophic situation in the city of Kicevo (70% unemployment rate and an apocalyptic economic situation creating deep resignation and despair), saying that only crumbs of the megalomaniac project "Skopje 2014" could dramatically improve the situation of the thousands of residents of Kicevo.
Next day in Kratovo, similar setting: venue for the promotion: NGO support center (after the Museum of Kratovo cancelled the planned promotion in the last minute); citizens present: about 30, and another ruined and neglected city.
This time the books were promoted by Nikola Gelevski and Aneta Spaseska from the “First Archibrigade” association. Gelevski talked about the need for civic activism and civil resistance, especially in situations when the local or central government “strays”. Although people are powerless to change anything in their “dying” city, (as stated by some participants in the conversation), Gelevski suggested that “the only point from which we can start is actually the one we’re standing on”. “We can’t wait for conditions to improve” said Gelevski “so that we could act and at least try to make a difference in our own lives and environment”.
Aneta Spaseska elaborated how the initiative “First Archibrigade” emerged among young architects and students of architecture and wholeheartedly supported the edition and its authors, considering it to be a small lighthouse in our dark situation.
In both Kratovo and Kichevo, as part of this small promotional tour, the Publishing house “Templum”, (published the edition “The City”), donated about 200 books for the needs of the library of the NGO Infocentre and the local libraries.
The promotions were organized by FOSIM in collaboration with the former NGO support centers; FOSIM also provided financial support for the publishing of the three books.
| | | | Conference
The Macedonian Government suppresses the private sector and continues incurring debts to cover the current expenses. The position of all participants in today’s (May 5, 2010) conference “Can our country go bankrupt?” organized by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia is that excessive indebting and poor debts programming can lead to an empty budget.
“For the state sector to go bankrupt, the private sector should go bankrupt first. State sector goes bankrupt last because it has the taxes available and can therefore suppress the private sector, which we are actually witnessing in the last year or two” says professor Den Donchev, referring to the state’s debt to the domestic companies. According to him, the anti-crisis measures offered by the government, are actually neither anti-crisis, nor can they be useful for the segments of the private sector that are currently in crisis.
Professor Abdulmenaf Bedzeti holds a similar position, and believes that there is a latent deficit in the state which is not proved, i.e. there is a public debt to the companies, for which there are no accurate figures. According to Bedzeti, our budget is far from bankruptcy, but the social funds are bankrupt.
Professor Vanco Uzunov believes that the Greek scenario is still far away, but urges for caution. "The government must reduce the pressure on the private sector so that we would not go bankrupt like Greece – said Uzunov. For the conference participants, it is particularly important that the government makes an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, in order to provide funds under favorable conditions, and to put control on the spending of funds.
Presentation of Abdulmenaf Bedjeti (.ppt)
Presentation of Den Doncev (.pptx)
Presentation of Vanco Uzunov (.ppt)
Presentation of Gjorgji Gockov (.ppt)
Audio from the conference (on macedonian language)
| | | | | | | | Fifth report from the monitoring of Macedonia’s EU accession process
The government is working against getting a negotiations date
Not only that the government is doing nothing to obtain the negotiations date, but it openly and directly opposes what the European Union has set out as a priority. This is the general conclusion from the report “Why do we need a Parliament” published today (May 4, 2010) by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET).
According to the report, several indicators suggest this. One of the most important indicators is the complete discrediting of the Parliament, i.e. tendentious blocking of the political dialogue in the Parliament and a boycott of all political parties at different levels and in various working bodies. In addition, the government is not implementing the planned reforms, does nothing to resolve the name dispute, and there is also a restriction of the access to public information, particularly by the institutions in charge of the European integration.
According to Lidija Dimova from MCET, the government is not interested in being admitted to the EU, and will probably organize early elections. "The final conclusion from all this is that the government has no intention of moving towards the EU, but instead intends to organize early elections after June and after the summit at which we would not get a negotiations date. We draw this conclusion from the fact that the Prime Minister and the Government are devaluating the Parliament, restricting the access to public information, and going against the recommendations set out in the 2010 Audit”, stated Dimova. According to her, the reprogramming of the debts of some public enterprises is also suspicious, and is another indicator that the Government is considering early parliamentary elections.
At the end, FOSIM and MCET presented their proposal for improving Macedonia’s position before the Summit scheduled for June. FOSIM and MCET suggest a joint conference to be organized for the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the Republic of Macedonia and EU, a few days before the Summit, in Brussels. The Summit would be attended by MPs from all parliamentary parties, representatives of NGOs and think-tank organizations from Macedonia, Greece and the EU, and all the reasons for obtaining a negotiations date would be discussed. At the Summit, it would be emphasized that the bilateral disputes are not part of the Copenhagen criteria. At the end of the conference, the Joint Parliamentary Committee RM-EU would take the initiative for the signing of a declaration which guarantees the Macedonian integrity.
If the government is interested in organizing such a conference, MCET and FOSIM are offering to provide all kinds of assistance.
| | | | Promotion of three books from the edition
 At the end of April 2010, the publishing house "Templum" and the “Freedom Square” association went on a small tour throughout Macedonia to promote the first three books from the new edition “The City”. The following books were presented: “Disorder and grotesque” (texts by sixteen authors), “They’re stealing a city” (eighteen authors) and “Architorture and globalization” by Nikola Gelevski (collected articles dedicated to the city phenomenon). All three books analyze the government project “Skopje 2014” and are very reprimanding. Within the framework of the sub-program "Books for debates on open society", FOSIM provided financial support for the printing of the books and organized the promotions around the country in collaboration with the former NGO support centers.
The first promotion took place on April 26 in Resen. The books were promoted by Nikola Gelevski, editor of the edition, Nita Mucha (from "Freedom Square") and Zharko Trajanoski (columnist and activist). In front of thirty attendants in the NGO Support Centre in Resen, the promoters discussed about the cons of the project "Skopje 2014" (irrationality, megalomania, the Government’s inability to establish the true priorities for the country ignoring the problems inside, etc.). Nikola Gelevski also highlighted the one positive thing that came out of the “pharaonic and foolish” government project: “it made us think about the architecture and urbanism of our cities”.
 The second promotion took place on April 28 in the NGO Support Centre in Delchevo, where Nikola Gelevski and Nita Mucha discussed once again in front of twenty citizens from Delchevo. The second part of the discussion turned into a conversation between the audience and the promoters. Most of the people who took part in the conversation expressed negative opinions about the government project "Skopje 2014" but one gentleman, a geography teacher, said the project is good because it would bring Macedonia closer to the EU, in particular because our capital would start looking like the European cities. Nita Mucha and Nikola Gelevski said something completely different: that this anachronous project, with the naive understanding of national identity, with the desire to turn the center of Skopje into an ethno-park – is only taking us away from Europe even more and getting us closer to certain despotic areas in some parts of Asia (Turkmenistan’s dictator Niyazov was mentioned as an example, with his megalomaniac buildings that were compared to the colossal monument of Alexander the Great which is planned to be placed on the Skopje square).
In each of the cities where the promotions are (will be) taking place, the publishing house "Templum" is giving away a small package of books (about 200) – mostly collections from the Margine magazine and books from the prose edition “Magma”.
  | | | | | | | | LAW PROGRAM
World Press Freedom Day 2010
Skopje, May 3, 2010. Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia, the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Youth Educational Forum are marking the World Press Freedom Day 2010, this year dedicated to free access to information.
Today’s date MAY 3rd ONCE AGAIN REMINDS US ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR RIGHT TO KNOW!
Free access to information is a principle, according to which, the state authorities are obliged to provide information, i.e. provide access to the information that they are keeping and creating, to all interested parties requiring information. The right to free access to information is a fundamental right for exercising the other rights for a greater transparency, justice and open society development. This right, along with the right to freedom of expression lies at the root of democracy.
We believe that the access of journalists and media to information is extremely important for conveying and presenting the truth. By celebrating the World Press Freedom Day 2010 we want to point out that YOU CAN USE FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE to advocate the exercising of this right before the courts and institutions.
Contact us at TOLL FREE PHONE NUMBER 0800 44 222.
| | | | Decentralization in Macedonia – slowing down
 The decentralization process in Macedonia is slow, yet the government is still not ready to increase the funds that should be allocated for normal functioning of the local government. This is an opinion shared by the majority of participants at the conference "Decentralization in Macedonia - sluggish or forgotten” held on April 23, 2010 and organized by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM).
The former Mayor of Veles, Ace Kocevski called for reforms that would increase both the competences and funds of the City of Skopje and its municipalities. According to Kocevski, it is truly a shame that the capacities of the local self-government are not being fully used, and according to him the state cannot be strong without having strong municipalities.
The mayor of Strumica - Zoran Zaev, shares a similar position, stating that decentralization, although being the biggest reform process since Macedonia’s independence to date, is in a standstill due to the selectivity of the central government. "We must highlight another major problem, such as the capital investments. Politics plays a huge role here, same as it does in every other sphere. Strumica, unlike some other municipalities, such as Prilep and Bitola, only receives 5 or 10 percent of the funds intended for capital investments. Most of the funds for capital investments go to the municipalities whose mayors are members of the ruling party”, Zaev said.
However, mayors from the governing parties are also unsatisfied with the allocation of funds between the central and local government. Izet Medziti, mayor of Chair municipality, believes that funds amounting to 3% of VAT and 3% of personal income tax are not sufficient for the normal functioning of a municipality, but according to Marjan Gjorcev, the mayor of Kisela Voda, the reason for the poor implementation of decentralization are the laws from 1995 and 2004. Representatives of the Association of Local Self-Government Units (ZELS) announced that they would require an increase of the funds from VAT to 6 percent, and funds from personal tax to 30 percent. All the mayors demand the swift adoption of a law on legislation of illegal buildings, because with the current situation, municipalities are losing significant funds due to unpaid utilities and property tax.
Although invited, the representative of the central government, Minister of Local Self-Government Musa Xhaferi did not attend the conference.
Presentation of Ljubomir Janev (.ppt)
Presentation of Goran Angelov (.ppt)
Presentation of Rufi Osmani (.pptx)
Keynote speach - Ace Kocevski (.pdf)
Audio from the conference (in macedonian)
First part
Second part
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