The public institutions are not transparent and accountable for public money spending
Today, the Center for Civic Communications presented the fourth quarterly Report on the results of the public procurement process monitoring, which besides the regular analysis of public procurement procedures, also contains an analysis of the legal protection in the public procurement procedures. The report, inter alia, noted:
• Despite its legal obligation, some state institutions, including ministries, did not provide a notification for an agreement for public procurement to the Public Procurements Bureau.
• The number of government institutions that are not providing data to the Public Procurements Bureau on the incurred costs of 20,000 or 50,000 euros for the procurement of goods and services is increasing.
• The problem with the delays in reaching the decision to choose the most favorable bid is getting worse. Out of a total of 40 monitored public procurement procedures in this quarter, a decision for choosing the best offer has not been made in 13 cases (33%), and the time delay for reaching a decision in these procedures ranges from 50 to 120 days.
• The problem with the nullification of public procurement procedures is being mitigated. Out of a total of 40 public procurement procedures, 7 procedures have been completely or partially annulled (17.5%), leading to a certain mitigation of this problem compared to the previous quarter, when 25% of the procedures were annulled.
• Although increased, the usage of the electronic public procurement system in the last quarter of 2009 is still not on a satisfactory level. In 2009, only 2.5% of the procedures have been conducted through the electronic public procurement system, which calls into question the preparedness for the realization of the legal obligation – starting from next year, to make the share of electronic auctions 30% of the total value of the public procurements.
• The number of appeals on public procurements,submitted by companies in the last 6 months has been increased. The economic operators (companies) are disputing the decisions of the contracting authorities (state institutions) for the selection of the best bidder more and more often. The State Commission for Appeals on Public Procurements accepts the appeals, or finds them to be justified (every fourth appeal is accepted). This indicates that the contracting authorities are violating the legal provisions more and more, i.e. that they are making mistakes in the procedures.
PRESS CONFERENCE
The Government must not silence the civil society
At the press conference held today, December 28, 2009, the NGO Infocentre, the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM), vigorously condemned the attempt of the ruling majority to silence the civil society, as well as the instruments that it is using in order to disqualify the legitimate right and duty of citizens to monitor and evaluate the work of each government.
During the last session of the National Council for Euro-integration, the NGO Infocentre, MCET and FOSIM were subject to fierce attacks and unsubstantiated labeling by the MPs of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE, members of the Council, and we were also deprived of the right to present our facts, arguments and positions.
50 blankets for the redundant workers
Representatives of the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia visited the redundant workers on hunger strike in Kumanovo and donated 50 blankets.
“The workers said that they are cold and we thought that people who are on hunger strike don’t have to be freezing as well. We should always express human solidarity, and if it’s necessary we will also provide medicines that are not on the list, and free legal assistance to the redundant workers. The state institutions must not continue to ignore the strike, especially because this is not such a large and unsurpassable financial obstacle for these people to exercise their rights – said Vladimir Milcin.
According to him, our Government is egotistical and greedy, because it is not willing to solve the problem of these people from the lowest class of society.
The redundant workers are on strike for 12 days, and so far noone from the government has visited them. They are constantly on medications because of their poor health condition, but they say that they will not give up the strike until their problem is resolved.
The editor in chief of “Vecer”, Dragan Pavlovic Latas, pretender to the position of main pogrom leader in the Republic of Macedonia, once again brought his newspaper to a level of a political landfill when on 18 December he published an unsigned article with a vague title “Greece is paying its own journalists, as well as the journalists in Macedonia to get the Greek proposal through." The unsigned text is full of lies and implications.
Looking for scapegoats and manufacturing public enemies, the “Macedonian loyalist" quickly prepared a list, a “Latas list" of journalists who, as he implies, were “paid to help pass the Greek proposal for destruction of Macedonianism.” He admits to have found the fifteen names of the “paid journalists”, on FOSIM’s website, in the Citizens for European Macedonia project. The “destroyers of Macedonianism” are published by name and surname on the website of the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, in the Citizens for European Macedonia project?!
And who, in fact, are these fifteen “paid journalists”? Seven of them are not even journalists. And some of them have never wrote or said anything about the name dispute in any of the media. Latas knows this, and yet he is unscrupulously lying when he wants to achieve the norm, when he is “producing” enemies and inciting Putinophilia hidden behind the supposed Macedonian partiotism.
The Citizens for European Macedonia (GEM) organized 24 debates in 19 towns throughout Macedonia. Sixteen speakers and about a hundred citizens participated in those debates. On behalf of the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia and under full material and criminal responsibility, I, as an Executive Director of FOSIM claim that none of them have received even a small honoraria. I suppose this may sound unbelievable to Latas and his “employers”, but it is the truth! Citizen membership in GEM and participation in the activities of GEM is voluntary and provides no income, regular or occasional! This is not the first time I’m claiming this and I will repeat it each time when its necessary to clear the poisonous fumes spread by the landfills commanded by Latas.
So, lets underline the lies and insinuations published in “Vecer” on December 18, 2009. First, half of the fifteen “paid journalists” are not journalists. Second, none of them are being paid! These are the facts, so the fabrications of Latas are futile.
If the fifteen citizens decide to file a suit against the libeler, FOSIM will provide a legal representative.
On behalf of the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia,
Vladimir Milcin,
Executive Director
PRESS RELEASE
The creator of the Law on Free Access to Public Information does not respect this law and does not provide public information
Three and a half years since the implementation of the Law, we are in an awkward situation because the Ministry of Justice which is actually the creator of this law, does not act upon the requests for free access to public information.
Namely, the Macedonian Young Lawyers’ Association, for the needs of its project "Support for the establishment of a system of free legal assistance in Macedonia” submitted requests for public information to the regional departments of the Ministry of Justice during the month of September this year, requiring public information regarding the capacity of the regional departments for provision of free legal assistance, i.e. the number of solicitors employed in the regional departments and the number of solicitors among them who have passed the bar exam. Given that the Ministry of Justice is responsible for the provision of that information, the requests were forwarded to the Ministry, but the Ministry has not submitted the required information yet. We believe it is worth mentioning that the requested information is of great importance for the Association because, aside from monitoring the process of establishing a system of free legal assistance, the Association also prepares analyses and comments on the draft law, thus participating in the discussions regarding the draft law, in order to contribute to the creation of a quality Law on free legal assistance.
This step of the Ministry of Justice is extremely unserious and unjustified, especially because the procedure for adoption of the Law on free legal assistance is underway, so one gets the impression that the Ministry of Justice refuses to provide the requested information, just to avoid criticism.
Moreover, the Commission for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information indicates in its decisions that ”...there is no excuse for the failure of information holders to comply with provisions of the law, three and a half years after the implementation, especially when it comes to institutions like the regional departments, being part of the Ministry of Justice, which proposed the law. This is even more inadmissible having in mind that the State Administrative Inspectorate is part of the Ministry of Justice, and is competent for performing administrative inspections. …Therefore, it is absurd for an institution that has drafted the above mentioned Law and which is obliged to monitor its implementation, not to apply it."
PRESS RELEASE
Participation of a citizen of Skopje in the process of making decisions that change the face and content of Skopje obviously works differently here, with our democracy! It depends on the lack of communication between the competent entities, the legal ambiguities, the unsociable Mr. Vladimir Zdravev, the sluggishness of Mr. Manevski and the wittiness of Mr. Todorovic. It is as if the municipal councilors voted by the citizens of the Centar Municipality don’t even exist!
The institutional obstruction of our initiative for a referendum is only part of the systematic suppression of different opinion, demonstrated with the intrusive behaviour at our debates, ignoring our calls for public debate, violently interrupting the protest on Macedonia Square, ignoring the polls of public opinion and the signatures gathered for the start of the citizens’ initiative
We have submitted requests, sent letters, sang songs, debated, got insulted, and we were being sent from one office to another. We were patient and cooperative, we did everything they asked for; everything we should have done “according to the law”. We had accepted and timely met all the new requirements in the process. Finally, the President of the Council of the Municipality of Centar, personally accepted the initiative, though he, by law, was supposed to schedule a meeting of the Council! And certainly the Ministry of Justice does not accept our request without a conclusion from the session that was not even held…
Citizens expressed their dissatisfaction on many occasions regarding the decision for building a church and a mosque on the Macedonia square, and their voices were still ignored. Moreover, they were used to stigmatize the initiators, because of their views. And this is not yet the worst part! The way in which activists are being “stimulated” to give up the initiative is symptomatic: misdemeanor charges, personal threats, public judgement, and even physical force before the eyes and batons of the police.
There was no support for our initiative which would allow our position to finally receive its institutional form - the citizens to state on a referendum whether they want churches, mosques and other religious buildings on the main square in their city. We got a deadline, but had no instructions, conditions, facilities and support. We got lies, vulgarity and condemnation, but not a right to our city. Therefore, the pressure will not stop. The opinion will always get new forms, but the content will remain the same. There will be sanctions for the ignorant and repressive behavior which is holding us back, but not intimidating us!
This time they deterred us from the intention to practice democracy here, and directly between us. Although the institutions are obliged to help citizens in practicing democracy, they did nothing. They just made us withdraw from the idea to initiate a referendum independently, as citizens. But the struggle will continue, though sometimes it seems impossible to win. We will find new ways to oppose and continue.
PRESS RELEASE
FIVE REASONS WHY MACEDONIA SHOULD START NEGOTIATIONS
The Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) organized a press conference today, December 2, to familiarize the public with the new policy brief titled “Lisbon - Skopje – Thessaloniki: Homecoming Europe; Five reasons why Macedonia should start negotiations.”
With this document we would like to indicate five reasons why Macedonia should get a starting date for negotiations: 1) The European Commission gave a recommendation to start accession negotiations, based on the fulfillment of the 8 +1benchmarks , 2) The bilateral disputes are not part of the negotiations; 3) To maintain the positive momentum of 2009 regarding the enlargement; 4) Without Macedonia, EU cannot prove that it has the credibility to be a global player; 5) The date for Macedonia opens an opportunity for the EU to “resurrect” the Thessaloniki agenda and enlargement, and provides an opportunity for Greece to realize its ambition - Western Balkans to become part of the EU during the Greek Presidency in 2014.
The purpose of this policy brief is to reach both the political and the professional public in the Member States of the EU. This document is distributed to: permanent missions in Brussels, foreign ministers and embassies of the Member States in the Republic of Macedonia, the EU mission in Macedonia, MEPs, the Mission of Macedonia in Brussels and to all the relevant media in the EU.
The verbal attacks on those who publicly express political ideas different from the policies of the government have started again. This is becoming a chronic and worrying phenomenon. The Government is trying to mitigate every failure of the Macedonian positions at the international level from the inside, by encouraging a witch hunt, a hunt for traitors and internal enemies.
Two weeks ago, the ruling party stigmatized a few citizens (mainly from the civil society sector) in a completely nebulous way, alleging that they were on the “payroll” of the former president and current opposition leader. Several days later, “one of the pillars of the Macedonian state” (as the current government wants to perceive the Macedonian Orthodox Church), Archbishop Stefan attacked the citizens opposing the construction of religious buildings on the Skopje square, labelling them as exarches and surveyors working for someone else’s interests.
Three weeks ago, one of the most brutal perpetrators of the regime, an editor in a TV station and newspaper, attacked three activists from the NGO sector with an unprecedented vulgarity and aggression (calling them “queer”), violating all ethical and professional norms.
On the same TV station, people who have a different opinion from the government’s were called quasi-intellectuals, bribed journalists, separatists, mercenaries of various services, oppressed Albanians”… and the “conscious intellectuals”, good journalists, loyal Albanians and non-governmental organizations with a state-constituting capacity” were called to deal with the former.
COMMUNITY FORUMS PROGRAM
The citizens of Strumica voted for an Open amphitheatre - summer scene
“Construction of an open amphitheatre - summer scene”, - a project within the frames of the municipal Cultural events program, received the majority of votes at the fifth forum session, held on November 20 in the House of ARM in Strumica, being attended by 100 citizens The selected project was unanimously voted by the citizens of Strumica to be funded with 6.900.000 denars, 4.000.000 of which are a donation from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the rest from the budget of the municipality.
“The Amphitheatre will be available to all the citizens, youth, NGOs and others, and is expected to be ready at the end of next summer, said the mayor of Strumica Zoran Zaev at the session. He added that he hopes all the projects to be implemented within the municipality’s budget.
The attendants of the budget forum, divided into nine working tables, voted for seven projects within the development programs of the municipality, for which they have debated in the past two months. These are “paving the Leblebidzhiska street”, “Procurement and setup of signs and boards with names of streets and street numbers on all collective and individual residential buildings”, “Construction of an open amphitheatre – summer scene”, “Sewage in the village of Murtino”, “Sewage in the village of Kosturino” and “Reconstruction of the water supply in the village of Bansko”.
“The properly managed process can yield good results, but the participation in the process is equally important”, said Vladimir Milcin, executive director of FOSIM – the organization that implements the program in Strumica. He hopes that the project implementation will be fast, and that the forum process will become part of the practice of the municipality of Strumica.
At the session, the ten proposals of citizens to the municipal administration from the last session were reviewed again, before being submitted to the local self-government in the form of suggestions or recommendations.
ROUND TABLE
Challenges before the adoption of the Law on Free Legal Assistance
On November 20, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM), in collaboration with the Human Rights Support Project and the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, organized a round table "Challenges before the adoption of the Law on Free Legal Assistance”. In the period between the two readings of the draft-law on free legal assistance in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, the roundtable was used for a presentation of the decisions from the draft law, and for sharing comparative experiences on a level of the Council of Europe and the member states of the European Union, in light of the application of free legal assistance and access to justice.
The significance of the adoption of a quality Law on free legal assistance and FOSIM’s commitment to contributing for the improvement of the legal texts with which Macedonia is getting its legislation closer to the EU legislation was highlighted by Vladimir Milcin at the opening of the round table. Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. Ibrahim Ibrahimi, reviewed the decisions covered by the draft-law on free legal assistance, whereas Mrs. Margarita Caca Nikolovska, former judge in the European Court of Human Rights, made reference to the right of access to justice under the European Human Rights Convention. Mrs. Marija Kolikova, lawyer and former director of the Center for Legal Assistance of the Slovakian Ministry of Justice shared the European experiences with the application of free legal assistance and challenges that Slovakia had faced during the implementation of the Law on free legal assistance.
DEBATE: PRESSURES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Action rather than apathy and conformism
Today, November 19, 2009, in Skopje in organization of the civil initiative “Citizens for European Macedonia” the debate titled “Pressures on the freedom of expression” was held.
At the debate, which was attended by journalists, analysts and civil society activists, the current situation in the Macedonian media scene was discussed, pressures on the exercising of the right to free expression and the more and more frequent use of hate speech.
Participants emphasized that media and journalists are under constant pressure from politicians and that the government advertisements are part of the process that corrupts the media. In general, journalists are either refusing to accept reality and they are being silent, or they are intentionally becoming political agitators. In such conditions, censorship is present in the media as well as self-censorship among journalists. For some of the participants in the debate, Macedonian journalism is currently a "dead sea" governed by PR-propaganda.
Representatives of the Macedonian civil society scene believe that civil activism is sterilized due to the governing demo-Christian conservative policy, capitalism, consumerism and remnants of communism. Labeling and open hate speech, for the use of which there is no appropriate legislation in Macedonia, are the weapons which the government uses to silence the journalists and citizens. The civil sector and the media should not only react, but to openly talk about and fight against the silencing methods.
At the debate, the preparation of the so-called “Black book of shame” was also announced,in which all public outbursts of totalitarianism, verbal violence, hate speech, etc. will be noted.
East-East Program: Cross-border partnerships
Regional Conference “Does business incubation work?”
On November 20, 2009, the Youth Entrepreneurial Service Foundation and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia are organizing a regional conference titled “Does business incubation work?”at the Skopje Fair (Macedonian Business Center Hall)
The event is part of the regional project Business Incubators: Creating a model for a successful and favorable environment for local and regional development which is supported by the East East program: Cross-border partnerships.
The purpose of the one-day conference is presentation of the results from the research conducted on models and experiences from the operation of business incubators, as a tool for stimulating new jobs and inciting local and regional economic development. The event is an opportunity to exchange regional experiences in creating policies that encourage self-employment among the young population and to present positive experiences in finding alternative solutions for reducing unemployment.
The final regional conference of the Eurasian Patient Safety Initiative will be held November 19-21, 2009, in the Hotel Continental. Representatives of the NGO sector and experts from Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, Ukraine and Croatia are members of this initiative. This initiative is financially supported by the East-East Program: Cross-border partnerships of the network of OSI foundations.
The purpose of the event is the exchange of national and regional experiences in the development of mechanisms for improvement of the public health sector in the focus of which are the patients’ rights and safety. The event will be used for exchange of experiences in the creation of public policies on the rights and safety of patients and for development of successful models in building coalitions among the representatives of the NGO sector and the decision makers in the public/state institutions on a local and central level. Public awareness impact is expected regarding the need to include the principles of patient safety in the functioning of the health institutions.
There will also be a discussion on the mechanisms and ways to implement long-term cross-border cooperation and networking among the partner organizations in order to initiate advocacy activities to promote the protection of patients’ rights and safety.
The Center for Regional Studies and Cooperation - Studiorum is hosting the meeting and is also a partner in this regional initiative.
CONFERENCE
Social justice education - from training to reality
In the period of November 13-15, 2009, the “Creative Teaching and Learning” project implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia is organizing a conference in the Hotel Metropol in Ohrid on the topic “Social Justice Education - from training to reality” Four hundred teachers from eleven high schools from across the country will take part in the conference. These teachers had previously attended the trainings for social justice education, organized as part of the activities within the frames of the “Creative Teaching and Learning” project.
Each of these schools will have the opportunity to present and discuss their experiences on implementing the knowledge acquired during the training, and all participants will be awarded certificates for their participation.
CONFERENCE
Increasing the financial and administrative autonomy of the local self-government
On November 6, 2009, FOSIM organized a conference in Skopje with the topic “Increasing the financial and governing autonomy of the local self government”, presenting the findings and experiences from this project, implemented in the municipality of Krushevo.
The participants at the conference, Nikola Jovanovski, President of the Council of municipality of Krushevo, Demirsha Emini-Dava, councilor in the municipality of Krushevo and president of the Council of the local community Jakrenovo, Goce Kicheski, councilor in the municipality of Krushevo and member of the council of the local community Buchin, Fani Karanfilova – Panovska from the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, Irina Fajon, from the Initiative for reform of the public administration and local self-government from Budapest, Tome Shekerdziev and Jadranka Kungulovska, local self-government consultants and Vojtek Marchlevski, international consultant for local self-government, presented the situation of the local self-government in the Republic of Macedonia as well as the comparative experience for the local self-government administration in Poland.
The goal of this project is to increase the financial and administrative autonomy of the local self-government and to raise the capacities of the local communities for their increased participation in the adoption of decisions on a local level, qualification for independent establishment of the local priorities and their implementation, and improvement of the institutional setup and communication with the municipality.
CONFERENCE
Decentralization – an opportunity for more tolerant municipalities
The last conference within the frames of the project "Living in a multiethnic environment - citizens with equal rights, opportunities and protection", financed by the European Commission and FOSIM was held on October 22, in Skopje.
During the conference “Decentralization – opportunity for more tolerant municipalities”, speeches were given by EU Special Representative and Head of the European Commission Delegation to Macedonia, Ambassador Erwan Fouere, Philip Reeker - United States Ambassador to Macedonia, Vladimir Milchin, FOSIM’s executive director and Hajrie Ahmed, president of the “Common Values” association from Skopje.
During the conference, there was a discussion about the results from the monitoring of the local administration, conducted from January 2008 to June 2009, in 24 Macedonian municipalities. The panelists in the discussion on the challenges for Macedonia on the path to a more tolerant society were Mersel Biljali, professor at FON, human rights experts Zharko Trajanoski and Mirjana Najcheska, as well as Naser Vejseli, deputy Ombudsman - regional office Kumanovo.
PRESS CONFERENCE
The state should increase the control of the public procurements
On October 22, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Center for Civil Communications presented the Report on the results from the monitoring of the public procurements process in the Republic of Macedonia on a central level.
Except the regular analysis of the public procurements procedures, the Report also contains an analysis of the control and protection in the area of public procurements, and the following is observed:
• 25% increase of the trend of annulment of the public procurements procedures, although 5 bidders participated in the annulled procurement procedures, which causes suspicion about the motives for annulment.
• In 40% of the monitored procedures, “manipulative” elements have been used for the selection of the best bid, such as the delivery deadline and payment, guarantee etc, which is compromising the principle of rational and efficient spending of public money.
• A very low level of participation of the electronic public procurements with only 1%, which indicates unpreparedness to fulfil the legal obligation – to use the electronic system for 30% of the procurements by 2010, as a means for reducing corruption and protection of budget money;
• The existing legal and institutional setup are not providing quality and efficient mechanisms for control of the procedures for allocation and realization of the concluded public procurement agreements;
• The administrative bodies for monitoring and promotion of the public procurements process in the countries of the region are authorized to monitor the public procurements process, which is not the case in Macedonia.
Presenting the results from the monitoring and analysis of the public procurements control, the representatives of the expert team, Mrs. Vanja Mihajlova and Mr. Miroslav Trajanovski stressed that the state should strengthen the control over the public procurements process, thereby overcoming the current situation of an exceptionally low number of public procurement procedures which end up in court.
The report also recommends to the competent organs and institutions to undertake the following measures for improvement of the public procurements system:
• Strengthen the role of the Public Procurements Burear by granting authorizations for monitoring of the public procurements process, and its recommendations and instructions to have a compulsory character:
• Introduce penalizing and misdemeanour provisions in the Law on public procurements same as the practice in the region, and in accordance with the Macedonian legislation practice;
• Introduce controls on the validity of the annulment of procedures and narrow down the broad legal framework for annulment of public procurements procedures;
• The Bureau for Public Procurements should define recommendations for more precise establishment of the criteria for selection of the most favourable bid in order to reduce the current opportunity for subjectivism and manipulation.
The purpose of the monitoring is to assess how the public procurements process in the Republic of Macedonia is being implemented in light of the new Law on public procurements and whether and how much the basic principles of public procurements work: transparency, competitiveness, equal treatment of economic operators, non-discrimination, lawfulness, economic, efficient, effective and rational use of the budget funds, insistence to obtain the best offer under the most favourable conditions, as well as accountability for the funds spend on procurements.
PUBLICATION
Citizens' Guide for the Ministry of Justice
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia supported the publishing of the publication Citizens’ Guide for the Ministry of Justice (structure, competencies, services).
The Citizens’ Guide for the Ministry of Justice is part of the series of publications with the purpose of acquainting the citizens with the competencies of the ministries and their departments, their structure and procedures and with the services that these institutions provide to the physical and legal persons.
The publication is an attempt to get the public/state institutions closer to the citizens in order to increase the citizens’ knowledge about the work of the institutions through a promoted service orientation, transparency and public integrity in the functioning of the institutions in Macedonia.
This publication will be translated into Albanian, Turkish, Serbian and Roma language.
CONFERENCE
“Lisbon – Skopje – Athens: MK@EU”
The conference “Lisbon – Skopje – Athens: MK@EU” took place on October 28, 2009 in Skopje. The conference was organized by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Macedonian Centre for European Training.
During the conference, which focused on the analysis of the 2009 Progress Report of the European Commission for the Republic of Macedonia, there was a discussion about the future steps that Macedonia should take in order to be admitted to the EU sooner.
It was emphasized that the ratification of the Lisbon agreement would strengthen the perspectives of the enlargement process, and that Macedonia should proceed on the path towards euro-integration with a wide societal consensus and a resolution of the name dispute with Greece.
Recommendations were given to the Government, to resolve the bilateral dispute with Greece as soon as possible, to consult with the civil society during the EU accession process, and to start acknowledging and accepting the problems, since that is the first step towards their resolution.
The conference was divided into two plenary sessions, and speeches were given by Erwan Fouere, Head of the EU Mission to the Republic of Macedonia, Vasko Naumovski, deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Macedonia in charge of euro-integration, Radmila Shekerinska – Jankovska, President of the National European Integration Council, Padar O’Broin, an analyst from the Irish Institute for European Affairs from Dublin, Vladimir Milcin – the executive director of the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, Dragan Tilev – State counselor in the Secretariat for European Affairs, Zuzana Lisinova, analyst from the Slovakian Foreign Policy Association from Bratislava and Lidija Dimova, Executive Director of the Macedonian Centre for European Training.
RECEPTION
Alliance for Inclusion of Roma in Education
On October 30, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia organized a reception in the Alexander Palace hotel at noon, on the occasion of the successful high school graduation of 106 Roma high school students, scholarship beneficiaries of the project “Alliance for Inclusion of Roma in Education”. The project, which is financed by the Roma Education Fund from Budapest and implemented in cooperation with the Department for development and promotion of education in the languages of the communities from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia, providing a total of 1464 scholarships in the past four years.
Purpose of the event:
To promote the results achieved with the four year implementation of the project “Alliance for Inclusion of Roma in Education” (reduced school dropout rate and an increased GPA rate of Roma high school students);
To mark the successful completion of high school education for 106 Roma high school students, their parents and mentors;
To acknowledge the Roma Education Fund from Budapest for the support in the promotion of Roma Education in Macedonia.
At the event, speeches were given by the representative of the Roma Education Fund, Eben Fridman, the director of the Bureau for development and promotion of the languages of the communities, Redzep Ali Chupi and FOSIM’s executive director, Vladimir Milcin. Two of the graduated high school students also shared their experiences from their participation in the project.
CIVIL SOCIETY
Promotion of the “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” in Veles
On October 5, 2009, in Veles, the publication “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” was promoted in front of 130 guests. Mirjana Najchevska and Sashko Todorovski are the authors of the publication. Sashko Todorovski gave the opening speech at the workshop, describing discrimination as a subtle phenomenon which is hard to determine. Sali Latifov, associate for health, social and civil protection in the Chashka municipality also gave a speech. He emphasized that the multiethnic life in Chashka is good, and that the municipality is making efforts to incite the citizens to mutually coexist in the municipality by engaging in sports and cultural activities. Zati Kesan, a representative of the Roma community and member of the association “Romani Bah” from Veles, was speaking about the experiences from the discrimination based on ethnicity. He stressed that the Roma community in the region is facing several problems in the social sphere, education and health – supporting his presentation with specific examples.
The great interest for the event provoked a productive discussion among the attendants who were coming from various spheres of society: local government, schools, institutions and nongovernmental organizations. The participation of Bosnians from the region in the public life was also discussed, the scholarships for Roma students in elementary schools, as well as the rights of Roma in the social sphere. The term “discrimination” attracted particular attention, being interpreted in various ways by the representatives of various ethnic communities. The meeting was assessed by everyone as useful due to the sharing of experiences and dealing with discrimination more easily. The publishing of the Guide was hailed. The Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, Bosnian, Roma, Vlach and English language versions are currently being prepared.
Although an invitation was sent to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and to the Ombudsman’s office, the attendance of the representatives of these institutions was cancelled at the last moment.
On October 8, the Guide will also be promoted in Shtip. Its publishing and promotion is part of the activities of the project “Living in a multiethnic environment – citizens with equal rights, opportunities and protection” financed by the European Commission and FOSIM.
First forum session held in the municipality of Krushevo
The citizens of Krushevo have made their choice! They want to solve the problem with the utility infrastructure
For the first time, the citizens of Krushevo have gathered in one place in order to discuss about the problems that they have in their municipality. Along with the 100 citizens attending the session, the representatives of the municipality, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) were also attending. All of them were gathered by the “Community Forums Program”, which is implemented in 12 municipalities this year, including the municipality of Krushevo.
Moderator Lazar Trajkov acquainted the citizens with the goals of the program and stressed that the citizens should decide on what they would use the three million denars provided by the donor - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and 1 million denars provided by the municipality. “At the end of the forum sessions, you – the citizens will select one or more projects that will be implemented with the already provided funds” Trajkov told the attendants. “Our goal is for you as citizens to be actively included in the forum, in order to hear your opinion and after the program is completed and the projects implemented, to have your other suggestions, in order to implement them by priority, mostly in your interest” – said the mayor of the Municipality of Krushevo – Vasko Damcheski.
The representative of the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency Ibrahim Mehmeti emphasized: Krushevo is a wonderful city, and that’s why I hope that with these projects the life of all the citizens in the municipality would be improved”. Sunchica Kostovska - Petrovska from FOSIM, stated that as an organization authorized for the implementation of the project in the municipality, they are calling on the citizens to be included in the forums as much as possible, since they now have the chance to make important decisions about their municipality.
The citizens voted on the three suggested topics: utility infrastructure, protection of the environment and water supply, selecting the topic of utility infrastructure with an enormous majority of votes. The citizens of Krushevo will identify the problems with the utility infrastructure during the forum sessions. As for what problem will be resolved, they will decide in March next year - when they will choose the worst problem with the utility infrastructure and this problem will be resolved as soon as possible.
COMMUNITY FORUMS PROGRAM
First session of the forum in the municipalities of Mogila and Novaci
On September 28, 2009, starting from 13:00 hrs in the “Kolta” restaurant, in the village of Mogila, the first forum session was organized as part of the “Community Forums Program”, implemented in the municipalities Novaci and Mogila. The program is financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC), and implemented in these two municipalities by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia.
The session was attended by 151 citizens. The purpose of the session was to get the citizens familiar with the program, and determine the structure and work rules of this forum. This is a new type of an inter-municipal forum with which the two municipalities will be working on a mutual problem: waste collection. The budget of the forum is 8 million denars, out of which 6 million are a donation from the Swiss Development and Cooperation agency, and 1 million denars are provided by the municipalities of Novaci and Mogila.
The attendants were addressed by the mayors of the two municipalities, greeting them and calling them to participate in as bigger a number as possible, because the successfulness of the forum depends on them, as well as what projects are to be prepared and implemented at the end. During the forum session, 11 working tables were formed: youth, advisors, education, sports, municipal administration, information technology, agriculture, business sector, environment, local community and health. Aside from the working tables, the rules of work of the forum were presented by the moderator Igor Tasevski, and unanimously accepted by the attending citizens. The date for the next forum session was also determined – October 26, 2009, starting at 13:00 hrs.
CIVIL SOCIETY
Promotion of the “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” in Delchevo
On September 30, 2009, in Delchevo, the “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” (from authors Mirjana Najchevska and Sashko Todorovski) was promoted. The Guide is published in Macedonian, and its versions in Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, Bosnian, Roma, Vlach and English language are currently being prepared.
The co-author of the Guide – Sashko Todorovski gave the opening speech of the workshop, discussing about the discrimination and the complexity of establishing it, stressing that discrimination is not always present, even if it is suspected to be. Merdita Saliu from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy discussed the activities that the ministry undertakes regarding the drafting and adoption of the Law against discrimination. The minority issues expert for the municipality of Delchevo, Julieta Memedova addressed the local mechanisms and instruments for protection from discrimination, emphasizing the role of the Commission for relations between the communities. Zekir Abdulov, president of the Humanitarian charitable Roma association “Kham” from Delchevo stated the specific examples of discrimination in the region, observed in the process of monitoring conducted by them, and the possible methods for their resolution. Unfortunately, the attendants did not have an opportunity to hear the presentation of the Deputy Ombudsman from the regional office in Shtip, Rajna Panova, who had cancelled her participation in the workshop at the last moment.
The presentations of the opening speakers incited a discussion on the discrimination of the Roma, Serbs and Turks in the region. Participants shared experiences on how to eliminate discrimination based on ethnicity and they also discussed about the Guide as an instrument for overcoming it easier.
Ten representatives from various state institutions participated in the workshop, 8 from the local self-government, 38 from NGOs and 9 students from Vinica, Pehcevo, Delchevo, Makedonska Kamenica and Kochani.
Three more workshops for promotion of this Guide will be organized these days in Veles, Prilep and Shtip.
The publishing and promotion of the Guide is part of the activities of the project “Living in a multiethnic environment – citizens with equal rights, opportunities and protection” financed by the European Commission and FOSIM.
ECOMONIC REFORM
Workshop
How to plan, prepare and apply for the EU projects and how to receive funds from EU - Success story: Djuro Djakovic Kotlovi d.o.o
From 16-18 October 2009 in Ohrid, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia organized workshop on the mechanisms and criteria for the use of EU financial instruments and the formal process of project preparation and application. 20 representatives from 5 municipalities, NGOs and business community were present. The workshop was delivered by consultants from Center for business counselling “MM” from Osijek, Croatia. Also at the workshop the company Djuro Djakovic Kotlovi d.o.o., Croatia presented their EU funded project. It was great opportunity for the participants to hear successful story of one company that improved export oriented competition using the EU funds.
ECONOMIC REFORM PROGRAM
The project for retraining 20 Roma citizens successfully implemented with the financial support of FOSIM and the Municipality of Shtip
On October 28, 2009, in the “Kole Nehtenin” secondary school in Shtip, the completion of the project “Retraining for young Roma” was marked. Twenty five Roma citizens were retrained during this project. According to the school’s principal, the project is successful because out of the 25 registered candidates, 20 have passed the final exam in the June-August session. Young Roma studying in the mechanical and electrical engineering field were included in the project. The project was implemented by the Roma association “Cherenja” in cooperation with the “Kole Nehtenin” high school.
I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!
September 28 – International Day of Free Access to Public Information
63% of citizens do not know that the Law on free access to public information exists, and only 6% have submitted a request for free access to information*
HOWEVER, 83% believe that the existence of this Law is important, and that with it, it is possible to reveal the problems and anomalies in the work of the institutions*
SO LET’S EXERCISE OUR RIGHT TO KNOW!!!
September 28 (“I have the right to know” day) is the International day of free access to public information. On this occasion, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia is reminding the citizens about their constitutional and legal right to be able to access public information, as an efficient instrument for ensuring transparency and accountability in the work of the public authorities.
In the Republic of Macedonia, the Law on free access to public information is effective since September 1, 2006. According to the Law, ANYONE can request public information.
Information holders (state authorities, local self-government, public enterprises, institutions and legal and physical entities with public authorization, performing activities of public interest) are obliged to submit a response to your request immediately, or within 30 days at the latest, or within 40 days provided that the information holder informs you in a timely manner that additional time is necessary for providing the information.
If your request has been rejected or you are not satisfied with the reply, you have the right to submit a complaint to the Commission for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information.
You have the right to instigate an administrative dispute procedure within 30 days upon the submission of the decision to the Commission.
Please visit www.spinfo.org.mk for further information or call the free line 0800-44-222**
*data from the research conducted by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, in the period January-February 2009. All the data from the research is available on these websites : www.soros.org.mk and www.spinfo.org.mk
**maintained by the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia
Freedom not fear 2009 – Data privacy information day
On Saturday, September 12, 11:00 - 14:00 h, we will mark the International action day for democracy, free speech, human rights and civil liberties, and against censorship, mass surveillance and data retention.
For further information about this event on an international level, please visit the official website of Freedom Not Fear 2009, as well as the Wiki page which is being updated with information for each country organizing events on this occasion.
PROMOTION
Guide to the national legislation in the sphere of the use of languages of the ethnic communities in the Republic of Macedonia
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, in cooperation with the NGO “Common values” and the former NGO Support Centers is organizing workshops for promotion of the publication “Guide to the national legislation in the sphere of the use of languages of the ethnic communities in the Republic of Macedonia”, published in the languages of the communities in the Republic of Macedonia and in English language. The workshops on the topic of “Use of the languages of the ethnic communities on a local level” will be held according to the following schedule:
• September 1, 2009 (Tuesday) from 12:00 to 14:40 in the Teteks House of ARM, Tetovo;
• September 2, 2009 (Wednesday) from 11:00 to 13:40, Hotel “Kichevo”, Kichevo;
• September 2, 2009 (Wednesday) from 16:00 to 18:30 in the amphitheatre of the Culture centre in Debar;
• September 3, 2009 (Thursday) from 12:00 to 14:40 in the hall of the Kumanovo municipality.
Keynote speech will be delivered by Darko Janevski, author of the publication and representatives from the Secretariat for implementation of the Framework agreement. The experiences from the application of the languages of the ethnic communities on a local level will be discussed by representatives of the local authorities from the region and the Deputy Ombudsman from the appropriate regional office.
The Guide and the workshops for its promotion are part of the project “Living in a multiethnic community – citizens with equal rights, opportunities and protection”, financed by the European Commission and FOSIM. The goal of the project is to improve the status of the minority groups and to strengthen the capacities for active participation in the creation of the public policies on a local and national level.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Information Holders Find More Inventive Ways to Refuse Freedom of Information Requests
Information holders have surpassed themselves attempting to avoid their obligation for providing access to information of public character by illogical explanations.
In the latest instance an Information Holder cited the article 3, paragraph 1 and 2 from the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Character, which defines the information of public character ("…information created and managed by the information holder…") noting that the reason for refusal of the FOI request is since "the request is posed in the form of a question, the Information Holder cannot respond because the holder is obliged to provide only existing documentation, and without creating new documents."!!!!
This explanation is absurd and completely unacceptable because the request for a piece of data, for instance statistical item, or information whether a decision has been upheld or denied, represents a data at the disposal of the Information Holder, as constituent part of their everyday duties, so consequently that piece of data does not need to be created from scratch by the Information Holder.
Sadly, we constantly witness responses from the Information Holders striving to restrictively interpret the Article 3, limiting their obligation to provide access to information which is created in written form only. Consequently, if the Information Holder does not have a separate written document referring specifically to the requested information (even though in reality, that information may exist in other form), the Information Holders show unwillingness to contribute to and consider the public interest by preparing a written copy of the requested information for the interested parties.
Such practice by the Information Holders runs contrary to the democratic principles and the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the citizens to freedom of information, contributing to decreasing of citizen's trust in the transparent work of the Information Holders.
Skopje, August 2009.
Contact person:
Jasmina Brezovska
Project Coordinator
"Free Access to Information of Public Character"
e-mail: jbrezovska@myla.org.mk
Hundreds of NGOs push for anti-corruption action at UN meeting
239 civil society organizations from 73 countries call for effective monitoring of anti corruption promises worldwide.
Skopje, 25 August, 2009 – 239 organizations from 73 countries are calling on the 136 states parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) to adopt a transparent, accountable and effective system to monitor progress in implementation of anti-corruption commitments. The UNCAC is the most comprehensive global legal instrument to prevent and fight corruption.
The Statement includes specific recommendations on how best to monitor implementation of the Convention and was submitted today to governments meeting at the UN in Vienna for a last round of negotiations prior to the UNCAC’s crucial Third Conference of States Parties to be held in November 2009.
Experience with other anti-corruption monitoring systems shows that without a strong review mechanism the UNCAC will receive only lip-service from many governments and will be followed by uncoordinated and often feeble anti-corruption efforts. Though the need for a review mechanism was agreed upon by governments involved in 2006, the adoption of a strong mechanism is far from assured due to opposition from a small but vocal group of countries, blocking an otherwise wide consensus.
Current state of play indicates that, although transparency and civil society participation are called for in the Convention itself (UNCAC Article 13) a small group of government representatives is against such guarantees in the review mechanism of this landmark anti-corruption convention. “Blocking the progress of monitoring is unacceptable if countries truly do want to implement standards and requirements to prevent, detect, investigate and sanction acts of corruption“, said Gillian Dell, Conventions Programme Manager for Transparency International. “Such tactics are also contrary to common practice established in other international anti-corruption, human rights and environmental conventions, to which these countries are also parties,” added Dell.
The statement was promoted by the UNCAC Coalition, a network of civil society organisations supporting the implementation of the UN Convention. It calls for a monitoring system that is:
• supported by a well-resourced secretariat;
• assisted by a group of independent experts;
• based on tested review methods, including peer review and country visits;
• participatory, involving civil society organisations and other stakeholders;
• transparent, resulting in published country reports with recommendations;
• carried out in coordination with regional review mechanisms;
• funded from the regular UN budget or assessed contributions, supplemented as needed by voluntary contributions.
Some of the organisations that have signed the statement, including non Coalition members are:
Access Info Europe, African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC), Amnesty International, Anti Slavery International, Arab Freedom of Information Network (AFOINET), Article 19, CAFOD, Christian Aid, CIVICUS, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Commonwealth Lawyers' Association, Concern Worldwide, EURODAD, European Network on Debt and Development, European Youth Forum, Financial Intelligence Council, GAATW - Global Alliance against Traffic in Women, Global Witness International, Greenpeace International, HELIO International, Human Rights Watch, IANSA - International Action Network on Small Arms, International Federation of Journalists, International Law Association, UK, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Oxfam International, Tax Justice Network, Tiri, Transparency International, World Vision International
As part of the initiative for a referendum on building religious buildings on Macedonia Square in Skopje, civic activists from the groups Freedom Square and Citizens for European Macedonia gathered 619 signatures from citizens of municipality of Centar and 440 signatures of citizens from other municipalities. Today they handed over the signatures to the Council of Centar municipality, prompting the Council to start a formal procedure to decide whether the Council will start a referendum on its own, or will enable gathering of of at least 8800 signatures (20% of the total number of adults in the municipality) required by law to start a referendum by designating polling stations.
According to the Law the president of the Municipal Council needs to provide a decision within 3 days about the legality of the initiative, and based on that decision the president may suggest a referendum, or provide conditions for gathering of the additional signatures needed.
In the request sent to the Municipal Council the civic activists stress the need for opening a number of polling stations for gathering signatures in all local communities, unless the Council decides to organize the referendum directly. If the municipal barracks are designated as the sole location for gathering signatures, then the freedom of expression of the citizens is jeopardized due to objective limitations.
Namely, designating one office with one civil servant to run the signature gathering procedure can in theory enable gathering of maximum of 1/3 of the needed signatures, provided that the citizens come to sing at equal intervals with equal intensity during the all working hours.
The signatures for the initiative to start a referendum in Centar municipality were gathered during the last week at several different locations. The organizers express great satisfaction from the support and acceptance of the initiative by the citizens.
Freedom Square
Citizens for European Macedonia
Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project Moving Walls 17
Call for Applications - Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project - Moving Walls 17
We strongly condemn the bully rampage in Nerezi by the football fan mob (part of the "Komiti" group) and lack of appropriate measures by the police to prevent the violence and end the spiral of violence.
These incidents provide another proof for the claim of Citizen for European Macedonia that Macedonia has become a bully state. The police again failed to prevent the assault of the bullies (just like it failed to prevent the violence at the debate in Struga and the rampage of the mob that "spontaneously" gathered on the main square in Skopje). The Minister of Internal Affairs again tried to shift responsibility and to minimize the mob's rampage, and the Prime Minister amnestied the Ministry of Interior (MOI) and stated that after reading the police report he will estimate if the incident involved interethnic conflict. Attempts to present the victims of the violence as a guilty party are also worrisome.
Citizens for European Macedonia remind the MOI that singing of "patriotic songs" which can be found on the Komiti website is an act of inciting ethnic hatred, discord and intolerance – a criminal offence (which has not been sanctioned so far).
We ask that MOI identify and arrest the persons who incited ethnic hatred, discord and intolerance, and to identify and arrest the perpetrators of the criminal offences "participation in a mob committing a crime" (the leaders and the participants), and "participation in a mob which prevents an officer of the law to perform his official duties," while we ask the Prime Minister Gruevski to order commencement of measures which would determine political, personal and command responsibility for the failure to prevent the violence, to put an end to the spiral of violence, and to protect the human rights of the citizens of Nerezi and other citizens who suffered injuries during the violent incidents.
Politicking, avoiding responsibility and minimizing only serve to open space for further incidents and to increase the burden of responsibility for the authorities.
Final report on the institutional responses against the election irregularities 2008-2009
In the context of the constant efforts for promotion of the election process in the Republic of Macedonia, and especially in the context of the last two election cycles (the early parliamentary elections in 2008 and the regular local and presidential elections in 2009), the Coalition “All for fair trial” implemented the project “Monitoring the institutional responses against the election irregularities”.
The output of the project is actually the final report on the institutional responses against the election irregularities 2008-2009, prepared in accordance with a comprehensive methodology which consists of court procedures monitoring, as well as in the collection of information on the institutional responses against the irregularities in all the phases of the election process: 1) during the pre-election period and the campaign 2) during election day 3) in the period after the elections.
The report contains an expert analysis of the overall election process and the identified problems in 2008 and 2009, also taking into account the actions of the State Election Commission, the Supreme i.e. the Administrative court, the State Commission for Corruption Prevention, the State Audit Office, the Broadcasting Council and the remaining institutions obliged to ensure consistent implementation of the laws during the elections. The report is also analyzing the legal protection during the elections and contains information on the police, public-prosecution and court procedures in the area of election irregularities.
During the implementation of the project, the Coalition, through its network of observers, monitored 25 court procedures against 107 persons accused of crimes related to the elections. One year later, only 40% of the first degree procedures against 38 persons have been completed.
It is of particular importance that the Report is identifying not only the problems, but also the possible improvements that are inevitable if the Republic of Macedonia wants to fulfil the standards for fair and democratic elections, contained in the Copenhagen efforts of the OSCE in 1990, and in the Copenhagen criteria for EU membership from 1993. This is exactly why, within the frames of the report, the expert consultants who have worked on the report (prof. Tatjana Karakamisheva and Sasho Chichakovski) suggest concrete recommendations for possible improvements in the fight against the election irregularities.
The project “Monitoring of the institutional responses against the election irregularities” was conducted with financial support of the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, from July 2008 to June 2009, in order to contribute to fair and democratic elections and respect of the rule of law principle in all the stages of the election process.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM PROGRAM AND THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES
Debate on the occasion of the publishing of the "Report on results from the monitoring of the public procurements process in Macedonia”
The Center for Civil Communications, in cooperation with the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) organized a debate on the occasion of the publishing of the "Report on the results from the monitoring of the public procurements process in the Republic of Macedonia".
The debate was held on June 23, 2009 in the Holiday Inn hotel in Skopje
The analysis of the public procurement process in the Republic of Macedonia is performed based on the monitoring of a selected sample of procedures; an analysis of the appeal process; a series of in-depth interviews with economic operators and analysis of the summarized data of the Public Procurements Bureau.
Key remarks highlighted in the analysis:
• High percent of annulled public procurement procedures; • The contracting authorities have a great freedom in determining the criteria for selecting the best bid, which leaves space for subjectivity and abuse; • Increased number and value of the agreements concluded with negotiation procedures without announcing a public bid in 2008, compared to 2007; • Decisions for selection of the most favorable bid are delayed for up to 100 days; • The tender documentation is sometimes used as a method for manipulation with the public procurement procedures; • Very small number of procedures conducted through the Electronic public procurement system (e-bidding); • The high bank guarantees are a problem for the companies; • The tender participants are not provided with an explanation about the decision for selecting the best offer; • The realization of the procurement agreements is delayed, as well as the payment; • The economic operators assess the implementation of the public procurement procedures with an average grade of 2.93; • The State commission for public procurement appeals adopted a small number of decisions annulling the first instance decision and the procedure of the contracting authority; • The economic operators are submitting a small number of appeals.
Keynote speeches were delivered by:
Sabina Fakic and German Filkov, project coordinators, Vanja Mihajlova, anticorruption expert and member of the project’s work team and Tome Nenovski, professor at the American University and also a member of the project’s work team.
Representatives of the Public Procurement Bureau also actively participated in the debate, as well as representatives of the State commission for appeals on public procurements, the State commission for corruption prevention, the economic chambers and the NGO sector.
FIOOM greets the signing of the first Convention for access to official documents in the world
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) greets the act of signing of the Convention for access to official documents of the Council of Europe, by the state authorities during the meeting of ministers of justice held on 18.06.2009, in Tromso, Norway.
Macedonia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Finland, Montenegro and Sweden are the twelve member states of the Council of Europe, signatories of the Convention that should contribute to the transparent work of the authorities in as mush as possible European countries. At the same time, FOSIM, along with its partners from Europe is calling the remaining 35 member states to demonstrate their commitment to transparency and sign and ratify the convention.
FOSIM, with its partners from Europe has already actively participated in the negotiation process for the text of the convention and, supported by the Macedonian government, was lobbying for the improvement of the convention.
FOSIM is calling the Government and the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to put the ratification of the Convention on the Parliament’s agenda as soon as possible, as well as the optional provisions. With the ratification, Macedonia will continue to be a leader in the promotion of the right to free access in Europe.
The Macedonian MPs, demonstrated high sensitivity in the Council of Europe regarding the issue of quality of the Convention and lobbied for its harmonization with the domestic legislation, in regard of the access to public information. FOSIM will monitor the work of the Government and Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia in view of the ratification, and the application of the Convention in the domestic legislation.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Time slots and locations for collecting signatures for a referendum
As the Macedonia Square will be occupied by mass gatherings related to Macedonia-Spain Football Match, the start of the action for gathering signatures to support the initiative for municipal referendum will be postponed for tomorrow, Thursday from 18:00 hrs on the previously announced locations.
- Macedonia Square, every workday from 18:00 to 21:00 hrs
- Cultural Centre Tochka , every workday and Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00 hrs
- City Park Fountain "Lotus" , on Saturday and Sunday (August 16 and 17) from 10:00 to 14:00 hrs.
Citizens for European Macedonia and Freedom Square
PROMOTION OF A DRAFT NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR RESOLUTION OF THE NAME DISPUTE BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF GREECE AND THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA
On July 17, 2009, in the Holiday Inn hotel, in front of the representatives of the media, Parliament, the diplomatic core, the citizens’ organizations and the interested public, FOSIM promoted the Draft national strategy for resolution of the dispute with the Republic of Greece in regard of the name of the Republic of Macedonia, by the author Stojan Andov, MP from the Liberal Party.
The promoters of the Draft national strategy, Mersel Biljali and Zharko Trajanoski emphasized the importance of this document and the need for its adoption by the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia. Gordana Duvnjak, the chairperson of FOSIM’s Executive Board, emphasized that FOSIM supports the publishing of this document in order to familiarize the public with its contents.
The suggested national strategy consists of the legal basis and frameworks in which the Republic of Macedonia should be seeking the solution to the dispute with Greece, related to the name of our country. According to the promoters of the document, the problem with the name is political, not legal, and we should be looking for the solution to the problem in the political sphere.
The document provides a clear review of the past events and provides directions for resolution of the name dispute.
The author of the Draft national strategy believes that it is necessary for the Government to change its position about this problem and provide visible signs that it is prepared for negotiations which would lead to a successful resolution in a very short period of time. “In order to do this, the Government needs to stop protecting the FYROM reference with its passive behaviour, and to publicly express preparedness to accept the geographic reference in the name of our country. At the same time, the Government should give up the referendum as an asset in the negotiations, since a decision for a referendum announced in advance, actually makes the negotiations illusory, and makes the Government look irrelevant and irresponsible – an unqualified partner in the negotiations” is stated in the introduction of the Draft national strategy for resolution of the name dispute of the Republic of Macedonia with the Republic of Greece.
The document, with the support of FOSIM, will be distributed free of charge with the daily newspapers “Utrinski vesnik”, “Dnevnik”, “Vest” and “Shpic” on July 18, 2009.
Freedom Square and Citizens for European Macedonia, ordered a public opinion survey regarding building religious buildings on the Macedonia Square. The field research was conducted by Brima Gallup thanks to financial support by the Foundaiton Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) between July 20th and 22nd using a representative sample of 500 persons from the municipality of Centar, with a margin of error of +/- 4%. .
According to the survey, a high percentage of 70% of the citizens of this municipality are against building of any religious edifice on the central Skopje square, and even more citizens—74% of the population—are against donating of the land to the Macedonian Orthodox Church and the Islamic Religious Community. Taking this data into account, the two NGOs instigated an initiative for referendum which will enable the citizens of Centar Municipality to decide whether they want new churches, mosques and tekkes on Macedonia Square. .
Therefore, in the following days we'll commence an action to gather 8800 signatures (20% of the total number of adult citizens in the municipality) needed to oblige the local government to organize a referendum.
Freedom Square and Citizens for European Macedonia invite all NGOs, informal groups and individuals to join in the gathering of signatures and to support the subsequent efforts to persuade the citizens of Centar Municipality to vote "against" as a response to the referendum question.
Download the Survey Results (.pdf 1.7MB, Macedonian language)
The citizens of Municipality of Centar who would like to support this initiative can contribute their signatures on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (August, 7, 8 and 9, 2009) in the Tochka Cultural Centre (located at bul. Kliment Ohridski 15, in the block behind the seat of MPC, opposite the seat of the Association of Journalists) between 19:00 and 21:00 hrs.
SUMMER CAMP FOR INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION
320 third year students from 11 high schools from Skopje, Struga, Gostivar, Tetovo, Bitola, Krushevo and Veles participated in the Summer camp for intercultural education, as part of the activities within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” from July 1 to July 13, in the Hotel “Metropol” in Ohrid.
The students attended workshops for identifying and overcoming prejudices and stereotypes, creating alliances, intercultural education, public debates, youth activism, preparation and organization of events, journalism, newspaper preparation etc. The workshops were conducted by young trainers from Training for Social Justice and mentors from the NGO Youth Educational Forum.
All the students at the camp received certificates for participation. At the beginning of the new school year (2009-2010) they will share the experiences from the summer camp with their fellow students and professors in their schools.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Second report from the monitoring of Macedonia’s EU accession process (April 1 – June 30, 2009)
MACEDONIA NEEDS A NEW PRIME MINISTER FOR THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
The Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM), published today the second report from the monitoring of Macedonia’s EU accession process, prepared within the frames of the project Accession Watch.
This report is analyzing the process of fulfilment of the key priorities from the Accession partnership by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the work of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia in the adoption of the laws projected for fulfilment of the benchmarks.
The analysis showed that the Government is constantly prolonging the deadlines for realization of the envisaged measures and this is why most of its documents are actually inconsistent and not usable. The resignation of Ivica Bocevski, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of eurointegration, happened in the worst moment for the Macedonian eurointegration process. It is also worrying that Bocevski did not address the citizens to personally explain the reasons for his resignation.
As for the fulfilment of the benchmarks that are key for the eurointegration of Macedonia, the Report demonstrated that>
1. The State organs continue to ignore the election irregularities and there is still no information about any investigation related to the pressures i.e. “the threats for layoffs” to the employees in the public administration and the companies in the private sector. Two months have passed since the political parties submitted the financial reports, but the State Audit Office still hasn’t provided any information about the results on the performed audit of the financing of the parties during the electoral campaign.
2. The Law on the Assembly has not been adopted yet, and the working versions of the laws and other acts – duty of the Parliament, are still far from the eyes of the public in the phase of their preparation. The Parliament’s work program has not been adopted with a consensus and there is still no initiative for reviewing the amendments proposed by the opposition. The Committee on Relations Between Communities does not discuss essential issues that are jeopardizing the interethnic relations, and in a situation when the previous incidents in the Parliament remain unpunished, the MP incidents are becoming more and more common.
3. The adoption of the Law on internal affairs is running late. Having in mind the meaning of this law, it is particularly important to adopt the law in a transparent procedure, with the participation of all the interested parties, and especially the nongovernmental organizations dealing with human rights protection.
4. When it comes to judicial reforms, the absence of systematic monitoring and measuring of the effects from the application of the new legal framework is becoming a practice. The transferring of cases to the bailifs is late, and the realization towards the state organs is the most difficult to implement. The access to the court decisions is problematic, and cases such as ELEM/EVN as well as the information about a procedure for dismissal of an experienced judge who has not adopted a decision for a detention measure in the case of a Mayor, implies that, in Macedonia, there are attempts to influence the judiciary.
5. The tendency of lack of cooperation between the Ministry of Interior, the State Audit Office, the State Commission for Corruption Prevention and the other organs still exists. The amendments of the Criminal Code and the new Law on authorizations of the civil servants, although crucial for the completion of the legal framework for dealing with and preventing corruption, have not been adopted within the projected deadlines. We should also emphasize that, each of the biggest political parties have spent 6 to 8 times more money during the 2009 elections than the remaining parties together, and that 54 mayors “forgot” to submit an assets declaration within the projected deadline.
6 The budget rebalance “melted away” the funds for human resources development and development of the public administration. Particularly interesting is the reduction of the funds in the subprogram for human resources development by almost 98%, as well as the reduction of the budget for the Civil Servants Agency by 41%. On the other hand, the Government, instead of reducing, is planning to increase the number of civil servants by 45%, under the excuse that this is necessary for the European integration.
7. The unemployment problem has become worse with the global economic and financial crisis that also hit Macedonia. The production and export are drastically dropping, hence the number of employees in the real sector is also being reduced. The new anti-crisis measures of the Government do not have any effects yet for securing the existing jobs. The numerous employments in the public administration are continuing, which is additionally burdening the budget and hindering the entrepreneurship spirit and eagerness for being actively included in the labour market, especially among young people, who are waiting to be employed by the state.
8. The government is confronting the successful companies, which are among the rare ones investing and employing in Macedonia without state subventions and privileges. At the same time, the Government is indebting the country by issuing expensive bonds and extracts the available capital from the banks and companies. With this, the Government is creating a spiral of unsustainable, inflation financing of the deficit and forcing the National Bank to additionally strap the monetary and credit policy.
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The Macedonian education is far from the education in Europe!
The Macedonian education and training system marks low achievements in regard of the five key education benchmarks of the EU: (1) Persons at the age of 18-24 who have dropped out of school too early; (2) Students with low grades in reading and understanding at the PISA test; (3) Persons at the age of 20-24 who have completed secondary education; (4) Number of graduated students at the Faculty of mathematics, natural sciences and technology per 1.000 young people at the age of 20-29 and (5) Participation of adults at the age of 25 to 64 years in the lifelong learning programs.
The Macedonian educational policies are inconsistent, hastily initiated and lead only by the desire of the Government to “deliver”.
The Republic of Macedonia is facing a low inclusion of children at pre-school age (20.5% gross rate in 2004/05), with a worrying vertical mobility and dropping out of the students from elementary and secondary education. The extracurricular tuition projected with the Law on elementary education is not being implemented consistently, while the reforms in the technical education, as well as in the adult education, are also being slowly implemented.
The quality of the initial education of the teachers is still on a low level and it is not coping with the challenges of the modern educational processes. Eighty-three percent of the Macedonian students achieved an exceptionally low result (below level 3 at the international PISA test conducted in 2000) which means that they would not be able to cope with a modern workplace.
The cost-effectiveness and the fulfillment of the conditions for quality of the dispersed studies and the newly opened faculties throughout the country are also questionable.
Macedonia has no strategy for lifelong learning, no national qualifications framework, and the implementation of the Law on adult education is running late. The national agency for European programs and mobility is late with obtaining an accreditation, and still remains open the issue of how will the national bodies for providing quality in the higher education comply with the standards in order to be registered in the European register of evaluation agencies.
These are just part of the findings in the document on public policies: “Long is the journey to a knowledge-based society: The Macedonian education in light of the benchmarks and indicators on “Education and training 2010” European Commission work program” conducted by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM).
This document examines the achievements in the Macedonian education and training system in regard of the five education benchmarks of the EU; offers comparative data on the achievements, as well as the education policies and practices in the EU-27 and other countries from the South Eastern Europe region, analyzes the current policies and conditions in the Macedonian education and training system and gives recommendations for their improvement.
Since the purpose of this document is to provide maximum support for the strengthening of the European perspective of Macedonian education, FOSIM recommends the following to the Government:
To harmonize all the national documents relevant for the EU accession with the education policies of the Union and the Bologna declaration;
• To undertake specific measures for enabling full inclusion in the elementary and secondary education • To invest in areas that would have a long-term and sustainable impact on the quality of education, especially in pre-school education and to reform the initial education of the teachers. • To withdraw the decision for external assessment of the students, and join the international PISA testing and use the results from it for identifying the key problems in education and in the creation of policies to overcome them; • To increase funding for higher education and research; • To reexamine its decision for opening new dispersed study programs, to accelerate the reforms and improve the quality of the studies in the existing faculties. • To create a sustainable adult education system and prepare a comprehensive lifelong learning strategy.
LAW PROGRAM
The Constitutional Court confirmed the indications of FOSIM about the existence of discretional and unconstitutional provisions in the Law on petitions and motions.
Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia - (FOSIM), considering the adoption of the Law on petitions and motions as one of the key laws for the regulation of the manner in which the citizens communicate with the organs of the state authority and the local self-government in order to realize their interests, sent a letter in January 2008 to all the MPs in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia through which it indicated that there were many inconsistencies in the then draft-law on petitions and motions. The then MPs did not adopt the mentioned Draft-law, but the text was submitted as it was on a session of the newly formed parliament and in July 2008 it was adopted by the MPs. Although most of the MPs who voted in favor of the Law got the remarks of FOSIM as MPs of the previous parliament and although the Minister of justice and the President of the Government were not replaced after the elections in June 2008, nobody from the above mentioned found it important to take into consideration the indications for unconstitutionality of the provisions from the Law on petitions and motions.
Among other things, in its letter, FOSIM stated: “We believe that the Article 8 provision – not to accept petitions or motions with “offensive content”, is an exceptionally free, discretional and forbidden category. Our opinion is that here we should abide by the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, namely Article 24, according to which the citizen must not be considered accountable, nor suffer detrimental consequences for his positions presented in the petitions, except if he is doing a crime with them”.
On a session held on the 15th of April 2009, the Constitutional Court made a decision based on the initiative of Mr. Stamen Filipov, annulling Article 8 paragraph 2 of the Law on petitions and motions. Among other things, in its decision published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, number 56/09, the Constitutional Court indicates that it is making its decision based on the following arguments “… According to Article 24 of the Constitution, every citizen has the right to submit petitions to the state organs and other public services and get an answer to them.”
According to the analysis of the disputed provision of the Law, we can conclude that the provision gives the organ the right to freely assess what is an offensive, and what is not an offensive petition, and depending on the free assessment not to act upon the petition, i.e. not to reply due to the character of the contents that it has assessed as offensive outside of the existence of objectivised criteria about it and only within the frames of the individual assessments of the organ - as it understood the text of the petition. Having this in mind, and also taking into consideration the fact that the disputed provision is not precise, not defined and determinable enough, space is created for arbitrariness and a different and inconsistent dealing with the submitted petitions and motions, and the citizens are thus getting or not getting an answer based on the fact that the contents or positions in the petition were considered to be offensive by the organ.
Having in mind the constitutional position about the freedoms and rights of the citizens regarding the freedom of opinion and the public expression of one’s opinion and the right to submit petitions and get an answer to them, without making the citizen suffer detrimental consequences about his positions, except if he is doing a crime with them, the Court decided that the disputed provision of the Law is not in accordance with the constitution…”
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia recommends:
• The actual sequence of events and the great number of legal provisions lately declared to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional court is one more reason for the improvement of the consultation process for the adoption of laws and participation of various stakeholders in the region. • The MPs in the Macedonian parliament should act professionally and consciously in the process of adoption of the laws and pay attention to the suggestions coming from the representatives of the civil sector. Although in practice, the parliament is rarely drafting the laws, it is still the entity that has the obligation to preserve the dignity of the institution “Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia”, whose reputation seems to be damaged with the current tempo of annulment of the legal provisions by the Constitutional court.
LAW PROGRAM
Press Conference
After three years of the application of the Law on free access to public information, 63% of the citizens do not know the law exists.
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia will hold a press conference in the premises of the NGO Infocentre on May 14, 2009 (Thursday), starting from 11.00 am. The results from the Research about the perception of the citizens in the Republic of Macedonia about the exercising of the right to free access to public information will be presented at the press conference, along with the evaluation of the information holders on the application of this right.
The research was conducted in two segments: (a) qualitative research through two focus groups (general population and officials from the information holding institutions) and (b) quantitative research of a national representative sample of 1009 respondents and 50 professionals – information holders. The research was conducted by the professional agency Brima Gallup in the period from January to March, 2009. Part of the results from the research indicate that:
• THREE YEARS AFTER THE LAW HAS BEEN ADOPTED, THE MAJORITY (63%) OF THE CITIZENS DO NOT KNOW THAT THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION EXISTS
• 9 OUT OF 10 CITIZENS THINK THAT A CAMPAIGN IS NEEDED TO INFORM THEM ABOUT THE RIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES ARISING FROM THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO INFORMATION
• THE LACK OF TRUST IN THE INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR INDOLENCE ARE HINDERING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION, ACCORDING TO 81 PERCENT OF THE CITIZENS. THE ALBANIANS HAVE THE BIGGEST TRUST IN THE INSTITUTIONS, UNLIKE THE OTHER COMMUNITIES WHICH DO NOT TRUST THEM SO MUCH.
• THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION IS OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE TO THE CITIZENS
• THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVEAL THE PROBLEMS AND ANOMALIES IN THE WORK OF THE INSTITUTIONS
• CONSENSUS BETWEEN THE CITIZENS AND OFFICIALS THAT THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION SHOULD BE FREE
• MORE THAN HALF OF THE CITIZENS WHO KNOW ABOUT THE LAW, DO NOT KNOW THAT THERE IS A COMMISSION FOR PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO FREE ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION, WHICH IS A SECOND INSTANCE INDEPENDENT AUTHORITY
• MORE THAN 2/3 OF THE CITIZENS (68%) ARE NOT IDENTIFYING THE STATE AUTHORITIES AS INFORMATION HOLDERS AND DO NOT KNOW WHERE THEY SHOULD SUBMIT THEIR REQUESTS (70%)
• FOUR TIMES MORE “UNSATISFIED CITIZENS” COMPARED TO “THE VERY SATISFIED ONES” FROM THE BEHAVIOR OF THE ADMINISTRATION
• 94% OF THE CITIZENS WHO ARE EXPERIENCED WITH THE LAW, BELIEVE THAT THE ONLY REASON FOR THE PROLONGATION OF THE PROCEDURE IS THE INDOLENCE OF THE INSTITUTIONS. UNLIKE THEM, THE OFFICIALS BELIEVE THAT THE LACK OF INFORMATION OF THE CITIZENS IS THE MAIN WEAKNESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW.
PRESS CONFERENCE
First report on Macedonia's EU accession process (November 15, 2008 - March 31, 2009)
THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD WORK 24/7 ON THE EU AGENDA
The Macedonian Center for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia, published the First report on Macedonia's EU accession process.
The general remarks and recommendations, stated in the first report, are a result of the analysis and monitoring of the fulfilment of the key priorities in the Accession partnership, in the period from November 15, 2008 until March 31, 2009.
Round table: Long is the journey to a knowledge-based society
The Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, FOSIM, is organizing the round table “Long is the journey to a knowledge-based society” on June 30 (Tuesday), 2009, in the Diplomatic Hal of the Skopje Fair, starting from 11.00 am.
At the round table, FOSIM’s public policies document “Long is the journey to a knowledge-based society: the Macedonian education in light of the benchmarks and indicators on “Education and training 2010” - European Commission work program”. The goal of the event will be to present and discuss the findings and recommendations for improving the education policies and practices in the Macedonian education and training system.
AGENDA:
10.30 – 11.00 Registration of participants
11.00 - 11.15 Presentation of the document’s purpose and methodology
11.15 - 11.45 Presentation of the findings from FOSIM’s public policies document: “Long is the journey to a knowledge-based society: the Macedonian education in light of the benchmarks and indicators on “Education and training 2010” - European Commission work program”;
11.45 - 13.30 Discussion
13.30 Snack
Participants: Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, Bureau for Development of Education, universities and faculties in the Republic of Macedonia, Agency for Evaluation and the Board for higher education accreditation, representatives of the European Commission in the Republic of Macedonia and other international organizations and donors active in the field of education.
CITIZENS FOR EUROPEAN MACEDONIA ON A DEBATE WITH AMBASSADOR FOUERE
The Government must cooperate with the civic sector
Today in Skopje, the “Citizens for European Macedonia” movement with the debate attended by the EU ambassador to Macedonia, H.E. Erwan Fouere, began the second cycle of the activities dedicated to the European perspectives of Macedonia.
Ambassador Fouere, in front of 400 citizens and representatives of the civil society sector from Skopje, Kichevo, Debar, Struga, Strumica, Veles, Kratovo, Kriva Palanka, Shtip, Kochano, Delchevo, Gevgelija, Negotino, Prilep, Bitola and Resen, emphasized that Macedonia will get a recommendation for starting accession negotiations if it implements the benchmarks. “There could be no political stability, functional democracy, professional and depoliticized state administration and sustainable economic development without successful reforms”, said Fouere and emphasized that what counts is not the promptness and quantity of the adopted legal decisions, but their quality and the measures for their realization. The EU ambassador is aware about the fact that Macedonian citizens are dedicated to the idea of a European Macedonia and this is why he called the government to incite and support the public debate on the European perspectives of the country. There is a great energy and capacity in the civil society sector, which, if properly used, could take Macedonia to the EU tomorrow, stated Fouere and reminded the Government that the Strategy for cooperation with the civic sector still remains just a sheet of paper.
The citizens’ initiatives and the further development of the civil sector are of exceptional importance for every functional democracy and this is why, Fouere outlined, the EU will allocate funds for support of the civil society activism during the following period.
Replying to the numerous questions of the present citizens, Fouere emphasized that the good neighboring relations should be maintained and that it is possible to have a solution for the name dispute, and he also expressed hope that the Macedonian citizens will soon travel to the EU without visas. At the same time, Fouere stressed that Macedonian citizens must regain trust in the institutions of the state and concluded that every attempt for undermining the independence of the Constitutional court is an exceptionally dangerous and undemocratic act.
CALL FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS
The RRPP has launched a call for project ideas, open to researchers from the Western Balkans: Albania, B&H, Kosovo and Macedonia.
Open Society Institute, Roma Health Project and RomaEducation Fund /Scholarship Programs (REF/SPs) announce an open competition for collecting applications for: Consultants for developing baseline studies of formal Medical Education of secondary and tertiary levels in Hungary, Macedonia and Serbia
Duration: 4 months Daily Rate: TBD Time Period: June 15-September 15, 2009 The call is open by June 8, 2009.
On the occasion of April 8, the International Roma Day, George Soros was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is awarded to Mr. Soros by RNVO Roma 2002 for his exceptional commitment to Roma-related issues. Mr. Vladimir Milcin, the executive director of Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) received the award on behalf of Mr. Soros.
Two awards were also awarded for an individual and an institution. Mrs. Els de Groen from the European Parliament received the award for an individual and the office of the European Commission received the award for an institution dealing with Roma issues in Macedonia
RNVO Roma 2002 is a network of 8 Roma citizens’ organizations and one of the key players in the civil sector in the development of public policies for the Roma. As a structure, the network includes professional capacities and activism for lobbying and advocacy for integration and development of the Roma community. The member organizations cover the whole country and the areas relevant to the Roma community such as: human rights, women and youth issues, law, education, health, employment, housing, political participation etc.
ANNOUNCEMENT
The government claims it does not have the sales agreement for Macedonian Telecom?!
The Macedonian Young Lawyers Association and the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) are providing information on a monthly basis regarding the situation with the practicing of the right to free access to public information, within the frames of the project “Free access to public information”.
The Government, which is one of the signatories of the Macedonian Telecom sales agreement, in response of the request for free access to the Agreement, submitted by the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association and FOSIM, claims that it does not have this agreement.
We cannot understand why the Government, which has signed the Agreement in front of the Macedonian public, says that it does not possess this important document. Is some other motive hiding behind this Government response or perhaps an interest of the other contracting party, remains an open question for the public.
It is even more absurd that the “independent” Commission for protection of the right to free access to public information is inclined towards the Government and it believes that the Government indeed does not posess the agreement. We are asking, is the Commission (which is supposed to be protecting the citizens in the realization of their right) letting the Government outsmart it?
Did the Commission forget about article 18 of the Law on free access to information, and did it forget that it is authorized to protect its consistent implementation? Did it forget to remind the Government to forward the request to the actual information holder? Is the commission afraid and is it not allowed to act contrary to the interests of the Government? We need to know, if the Governmet as a vendor does not indeed possess the sales agreement, then what organ or institution does?
This action of the Government and the Commission only creates doubt and distrust among the citizens about their work and transparency, as well as doubt in the realization of the goals for which the Law on Free Access to Public Information was adopted.
NGOs CONDEMNED THE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE STUDENTS ON THE SKOPJE SQUARE
“The violent outcome of this peaceful protest is a serious threat for the democratic processes in the country” was the message of a group of human rights activists from ten citizens’ associations during yesterday’s press conference.
At the press conference, held on the 30th of March, 2009 in the Culture Centre “Tochka”, the human rights activists asked the Ministry of Interior to press misdemeanour charges against the people who physically attacked the students from the Faculty of Architecture on Saturday during their protest on the Macedonia square in Skopje. On the 28th of March, 2009, the students, at the protest called “First architecture uprising” stated that a church should not be built between the “Dal Met Fu” restaurant and the “City Gallery” trade center.
According to Zharko Trajanoski, a human rights activist, the events on the Skopje square actually represent a rape of the Macedonian democracy since the police did not protect the right of the students to a peaceful protest. Trajanoski emphasized that the right to a peaceful protest can only be denied during a state of war and that the police was obliged to prevent the violence of the counter-protestors who tried to stop the protest by using their fists.
Mirjana Najchevska from the Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution emphasized that even if the protest had been politically motivated, beating is not allowed. “It is absolutely not important whether the protest has or does not have a political background, what is important is that here we have a case of violation of the right to peaceful protest”, stated Najchevska.
At the remark from MOI that the students did not announce the protest in time, i.e. that they announced it only 24 hour before, instead od 48 hours, as projected with the law, Najchevska said that according to the Constitution the students had no obligation to announce a protest with which they are not blocking streets and are not limiting people’s normal life.
This Saturday, we witnessed dreadful violence against the students. This is not a conflict between two groups, but a physical attack of one group over another”, said Slavcho Dimitrov from the Coalition for protection and promotion of the sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities.
EVENT
2009 Budget of the Republic of Macedonia
On the 27th of February, 2009, the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia organized a public event 2009 Budget of the Republic of Macedonia 2009.
Having in mind that the conclusions and recommendations from the analysis of the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia for 2009 and the discussion arroused great interest among the public, we are publishing:
Audio recording of the public event
Analysis of the 2009 Budget of RM
Report from the quarterly analysis of the results from the Monitoring of the implementation of the public procurements process in Macedonia
At the press conference, held on February 26, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Center for citizens’ communications presented the first quarterly report from the project “Monitoring public procurements on a central level”. In this first quarterly report, 40 public procurement procedures monitored in the period November 2008 – February 2009 have been included.
The goal of the analysis is to assess the method of implementation of the public procurement process in the Republic of Macedonia in light of the new Law on public procurements and to establish whether the basic public procurement principles are applied: transparency, competitiveness, equal treatment of the economic operators, non-discrimination, lawfulness, economy, efficiency, effective and rational use of the budget funds, insisting to get the best offer under the most favourable conditions, as well as accountability for the funds spent on procurements.
The first quarterly analysis resulted with the following general remarks:
•Frequent change of the annual public procurements plan which indicates poor annual needs planning;
•Despite the clear legal opportunity, the tender documentation is not published for download on the websites of the state organs, thus they can save money to the companies and reduce the duration of the procedure;
•The legal opportunity for engaging a qualified person; expert for preparation of the technical documentation and evaluation of the offers, was also not used.
•There were cases when during the establishment of the eligibility criteria and technical specification, provisions and procedures that could have a discriminatory influence were specified.
•The percent of annulled procedures is high (17.5% of the analyzed cases) which could indicate an unprofessional preparation of the tender documentation, which means loss of time, money and trust with the economic operators.
•Due to the unspecified deadlines for submitting decisions for selection of the most eligible offer, in some procedures the selection lasts longer than three months;
•The commissions do not respect the legal provision for presenting the reasons for the selection or rejection of the bids.
•A great number of the unaccepted bids are rejected due to formal reasons;
•A small number of the bidders file a complaint on the decision for selection which can partially be due to the new legal provisions.
•The contracting authorities are late with the payment from the public procurements contracts which can negatively influence the work of the companies and the realization of the contracts;
•1/3 of the total value of the public procurements in the first six months of 2008, i.e. 2.192.334.631,38 MKD, are conducted according to call for proposals procedures and by negotiating without previously advertising which could be an indicator about the low degree of transparency in the public procurements process;
•Statistical data about the implemented procedures and contracts for public procurements that the Bureau for Public Procurements is collecting, analyzing and processing only provide a quantitative analysis, but not an analysis of the public procurements from an aspect of their quality and realization dynamics, as well as an assessment of the cost-effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness of the public procurements in the Republic of Macedonia. Economic
The reports and recommendations from the quarterly analysis will be submitted to the relevant competent authorities and to the other interested organizations and institutions.
Macedonian language used on one of the most popular TV shows on Greek television
A three hour debate with the Macedonian minority as a topic was aired on one of the most viewed TV shows in Greece. The open program of the Alter television gathered representatives of Vinozhito and politicians from the biggest Greek political parties.
Despite the accusations that the Macedonians in Greece are on the payroll of the Government in Skopje, Nea Demokratija Pasok and the Radical Laos claim that the Macedonian minority issue is actually a plan of the American government to cause problems for Greece.
The plan is allegedly implemented by Soros and the Canadian Macedonian Bitov, including the mediator Nemitz, who, according to the guests at the TV show, was holding lectures on a university owned by Soros. Valianatos, the former counsellor of Pasok’s leader Papandreu, also faced criticism from the Greek parties. Three months ago, he was removed from this position because he publicly spoke about the existence of the Macedonian minority.
According to the statements of Pasok that MacDougal’s report has been paid by Washington, Valianatos explained that the UN had never been used as a tool by the US, nor the Council of Europe, as a body that doesn’t give in to the influence of the great forces. The Greek guests were not willing to discuss the conclusions of the European court of Human Rights, according to which the Macedonians are a reality in Greece.
Another conversation topic was the presence of the Macedonian media during the Ilinden holiday in the Ofcharani village. Vinozhito was accused for inviting only Macedonian, but not Greek media.
At the end of the debate, one of the leaders of Vinozhito, Vaskopulos, addressed the viewers in Macedonian language and stated that they should not be afraid to say that they are Macedonians.
Author: Goran Momirovski
Source: Kanal 5
Video: George Soros and his activities in Macedonia
What do the greek nationalists think about Soros and his support for Macedonia
“Citizens for European Macedonia” movement in Skopje
Macedonian youth must not be driven by nationalism
Macedonia must be a country of citizens who are living free and without fear. It must be a country in which the European values prevail and a decent place for living of the current and future generations. Macedonia is sick and tired of populist promises, propaganda and fake patriotism, stated the initiators of the “Citizens for European Macedonia” movement during the Saturday debate in Skopje and stressed: “The government should solve the specific problems of the citizens; the economic, social, political, educational and health problems… The economy is what supports our life, but the economy is slowly sinking, and the government is swimming. Will it be swimming in October as well, when all of us will be drowning?”
The citizens attending the debate also emphasized that they are concerned about the future of Macedonia, which is sinking in poverty, isolation and censorship. What is now happening in Macedonia, stated some of the attendants, is the same that happened in Serbia in the time of Miloshevic: nationalism, chauvinism and even fascism. According to them, the retrograde processes will be long lasting and will not stop if the citizens are not encouraged and are not fighting for their constitutionally guaranteed rights.
What concerns the citizens most is the indoctrination of the young people with nationalism and the absence of citizen’s awareness about themselves and the world. Instead of being the leaders in the battle for democracy and human rights, they are being indoctrinated, intolerant and more and more violent. Therefore, in the future, according to the attendants, the “Citizens for European Macedonia” movement must attract as much as possible young people.
During the debate, we were also able to hear polemic tones. Some of the citizens asked why the movement initiated its activities right before the elections and whether the opposition is supporting the movement. There were also citizens, members of VMRO-DPMNE who told the initiators of the movement that “they have taken too big a bite and that they have already been convicted to death”.
With this debate in Skopje, the initiators of the movement (Branko Geroski, Mersel Biljali, Nikola Gelevski, Vladimir Milchin, Zharko Trajanoski and Roberto Belichanec) completed the three week “February expedition”. They held debates in Skopje, Veles, Shtip, Strumica, Bitiola, Kumanovo, Kichevo, Debar, Kochani and Tetovo, during which they discussed the conditions and perspectives of Macedonia with the citizens. The meetings with the citizens will continue after the elections.
PUBLIC DEBATE
Analysis of the budget of the Republic of Macedonia for 2009
Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia is organizing a public event Budget of the Republic of Macedonia 2009 in the Holiday Inn hotel (Millennium hall 1) beginning at 11:00 am on the 27th of February 2009 (Friday).
The goal of the event is to present the conclusions and recommendations from the conducted Analysis of the Budget of Republic of Macedonia (the budget process, planned incomes and expenses) adopted in the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia on December 29, 2008, and to open a public discussion about the questions and challenges related to this topic.
Authors of the Analysis of the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia for 2009: Abdul Gafar Mugal (California University, Los Angeles), Marjan Nikolov M Sc. (Center for economic analyses, Skopje), Vancho Uzunov (Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Skopje) and Abdulmenaf Bedgeti (SEE University, Tetovo).
Who is profiting from the intensified "antique" propaganda just when Macedonia is knocking on the doors of the EU?
Today, the citizens’ initiative consisting of 27 organizations reacted to the intensified “antique” propaganda of the Government, which is causing serious material damage and is compromising the European integration of the Republic of Macedonia.
In their public address, the organizations are requiring the Government to stop telling half-truths and making decisions that put the European integration of the Republic of Macedonia at risk.
Macedonia must not sacrifice 77 million euros intended for the highway Tabanovce – Gevgelija because of the Government’s decision to name the highway “Alexander Macedonian”. The Government’s explanation that Greece would stop 50 million euros of “European money” is not true. It is true that the 50 million euros is money of the Greek government, and not the European Union, and the Union will participate with an additional 27 million euros from the third IPA component for regional development.
Naming the highway “Aleksandar Makedonski” is a violation of the political criteria for regional cooperation and is contrary to the recommendations in the European Commission’s Progress report for the Republic of Macedonia for 2008, where it is stipulated that “activities that could negatively impact good neighboring relations should be avoided”.
Citizens’ organizations believe that this decision is compromising the European integration of the Republic of Macedonia and are asking the Prime Minister Gruevski to declare whether he intends to provide a date for the beginning of negotiations in 2009.
LAW PROGRAM
Human Rights Support Project is calling the milk producers to report police violence
Skopje, January 30, 2009 – With an announcement sent to the print and electronic media, the Human Rights Support Project is calling the milk producers from the Bitola and Prilep region, who complained about police violence during the organized protests, to report these events. The project is offering free legal assistance, as well as financial assistance for obtaining the necessary medical documentation.
The implementation of the project is supported by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the
Fund for victims of torture of the United Nations.
MEDIA MIRROR – ELECTIONS 2009
Government Directly Involves and Influences the Election Campaign
The NGO Info-centre, under the auspices of its "Media Mirror" project, conducts a qualitative monitoring of the media, focused on the manner in which they inform the public about the events and developments surrounding the Presidential and Local Elections 2009.
The monitoring programme covers six daily newspapers and six national television broadcasters: "Večer“, „Vreme“, „Dnevnik“, „Utrinski vesnik“, „Koha“, „Nova Makedonija“, A1 TV, Kanal 5 TV, MTV1, AlSat-M TV, Sitel TV and Telma TV.
The analysis of the media coverage of the 2009 Elections, one week before the official start of the campaign activities and the first week of the campaign (February 23 to March 7, 2009), shows that the media have directed their criticism mostly to the Government and its inappropriate behaviour.
Majority of the media included in the monitoring conclude that the Government is meddling in the official part of the election campaign, in favour of presidential candidate George Ivanov and the candidates for local offices of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. According to the press, through application of the model seen at last year's early Parliamentary Elections and the "billion Dollars of Vasil Tupurkovski" in the 1998 elections, the Government prepared its own agenda for support of VMRO-DPMNE’s campaign efforts, promising new investments of eight billion Euros in public works and projects. Press photographers and TV cameras constantly caught the highest echelons of the Government as protagonists of campaign related events. Also, government ministers were seen campaigning for some of VMRO-DPMNE’s candidates for mayoral positions.
The media were more inclined to criticise the Government because of its efforts to influence the election campaign, candidate George Ivanov for his unusual behaviour and rhetoric, rather than SDSM's candidate Ljubomir Frckovski and the opposition in general. The media seem to have expected from the candidates to present clear position on whether Macedonia should make a compromise with Greece over the disputed name of the country. Most media approved of, in their view, Frckovski’s direct and clear position on the name-dispute and criticized Ivanov for his hesitant and uncertain views on the matter.
The media claim the Government used the continuous media campaigns to spin the reality and cover up the truth about unfavourable international position of the country. The Government is increasingly in disfavour with the media who emphasize that it tries, rather clumsily, to avoid taking responsibility for the consequences suffered by Macedonia to the "antiquisation" of the country. The media criticise the Government that its policies create division in the society into so-called "Macedonoids" and "Slavs", i.e. "isolationists" and "integratives". That is the main reason why most commentators refuse Government's attempts to excuse itself from the responsibility for the current situation in the society.
Most journalists agree that Macedonia has entered political and economic crisis, and that the Government lacks political capacity to deal with the problems faced by the state. In their view, although Government's ratings and public approval figures remain high, citizens are increasingly interested in the solutions proposed by the opposition.
The media owned by politically active owners close to the ruling coalition have secured great amount of coverage in their news programmes that directly or indirectly commend and promote Government activities. Therefore, at times it wasn't at all clear what of the presented were VMRO-DMPNE campaign activities, what parts were Government campaigning. Such biased reporting makes an impression in the public that the media do act as Government's coalition partners.
The final report of the first round of monitoring will be published and presented to all relevant Macedonian and international institutions by the end of the week.
The NGO Info-centre will prepare two more analysis of the media coverage of Presidential and Local Elections, by the end of April 2009.
LAW PROGRAM
Round table: “Institutional response to the election irregularities – dilemmas and challenges”
The Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, in cooperation with the donor agency – OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission to Skopje, and the implementer of the project “Monitoring of the institutional response against election irregularities” – the Coalition “All for fair trial” will organize a round table on the 26th of February, 2009, 11:00 am in the Holiday Inn hotel in Skopje on the topic “Institutional response to the election irregularities – dilemmas and challenges”.
Representatives of all the relevant institutions have been invited at the round table, during which there will be a discussion about the findings of the project so far, which are to be presented by Tanja Karakamisheva PhD and Aleksandar Chichakovski.
The conclusions from the round table will also be a warning about the expectations that the expert and general public have from the relevant institutions, in regard of implementing fair and democratic local and presidential elections.
The implementation of the project “Monitoring the institutional response against the election irregularities” began in September 2008, intended to monitor the prosecution and sanctioning of the alleged perpetrators of the election irregularities during the early parliamentary elections, by monitoring court cases. The project will also monitor the reactions of the state organs which, according to their authorizations, are obliged to act upon any election irregularities.
Additionally, the systematized data gathered with the project will be analyzed and published in a final report during the month of June 2009.
CREATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING
Social justice education
The first part of the training “Social justice education” within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, taking place in the hotel Metropol in Ohrid, January 30 – February 1, 2009 will be attended by 110 professors from the high schools “Kiril Pejcinovik” – Tetovo and “Kocho Racin” – Veles.
During the training, the students will acquire the necessary techniques through practical examples for getting familiar and dealing with the phenomenon of ethnic, racial and gender prejudices and conflicts, in order to apply these experiences in the teaching process, as well as in everyday life. The techniques will be presented by Meri Boshkova PhD, Vladimir Davchev PhD, Sofija Arnaudova MSc, Florina Shehu MSc., Ljuljzim Ademi MSc, Zorica Jovanovska, Petra Ristik and Atina Tasevska.
CREATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING
Social justice education
The first part of the training “Social justice education” within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, taking place in the hotel Metropol in Ohrid, January 23-25, 2009 will be attended by 80 professors from the high school “Josip Broz – Tito” from Skopje.
During the training, the participants will acquire the necessary techniques through practical examples for getting familiar and dealing with the phenomenon of ethnic, racial and gender prejudices and conflicts, in order to apply these experiences in the teaching process, as well as in everyday life.
The techniques will be presented by Meri Boshkova PhD, Dimitar Bonevski PhD, Antoni Novotni PhD, Zorica Jovanovska PhD, Petra Ristik and Atina Tasevska.
BOOK EXHIBIT AND PROMOTION
Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918
BOOK EXHIBIT AND PROMOTION
"Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918" in Shtip
On Monday, February 23, 2009, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) is organizing an exhibit and promotion of the monograph – “Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918” in the Museum in Shtip. The event will start at noon.
During the promotion, speeches will be given by Zoran Chitkushev, director of the Museum of the city of Shtip, Vladimir Milcin, executive director of FOSIM, Irena Stefoska, PhD from the Institute for National History and Jasmina Najdovska from FOSIM.
The monograph, which is a result of the one-year scientific and research work, presents rare documentation from the first half of the 20th century, to be more precise 204 letters, 59 postcards and 40 documents. Most of them are letters sent by and to Macedonian soldiers from North-Eastern Macedonia (the Kratovo, Probishtip and Zletovo region), mobilized in the Serbian and Bulgarian army during the First World War. There are also fifty-nine postcards sent to Macedonia by former soldiers of the Serbian army, who had been prisoners of war or surrendered themselves to the Austro-Hungarian army and spent time in several camps in the then Austro-Hungary.
The goal of the monograph is to affirm and demonstrate the other side of history, i.e. the history of the everyday life of the military and civil population during the First World War.
SEMINAR
International project management for Social Scientists from Western Balkans countries
A seminar of the RRPP program on the topic of "International project management for Social Scientists from Western Balkan countries" will take place in Belgrade, Serbia, February 6-7, 2009.
The seminar will bring together representatives of the nucleus partners from Macedonia and BIH. The program is focused on major EU funding programs and various aspects of the international research project management.
Dr.Elke Dall of the Centre for Social Innovation Vienna, Austria will moderate the seminar.
RRPP is a multiyear regional research programme financed by the SDC and implemented by the University of Friburg.
FOSIM is the local coordination office for Macedonia and Human Rights Center of University of Sarajevo for BIH.
Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918
BOOK EXHIBIT AND PROMOTION
Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918
On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) is organizing an exhibit and promotion of the monograph – “Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918” in the Culture Center in Kriva Palanka. The event will start at noon.
During the promotion, speeches will be given by Aleksandar Rangelov, director of the national institution Center of Culture – Kriva Palanka, professor Irena Stefoska, PhD from the Institute for National History and Jasmina Najdovska from FOSIM.
The monograph, which is a result of the one-year scientific and research work, presents rare documentation from the first half of the 20th century, to be more precise 204 letters, 59 postcards and 40 documents. Most of them are letters sent by and to Macedonian soldiers from North-Eastern Macedonia (the Kratovo, Probishtip and Zletovo region), mobilized in the Serbian and Bulgarian army during the First World War. There are also fifty-nine postcards sent to Macedonia by former soldiers of the Serbian army, who had been prisoners of war or surrendered themselves to the Austro-Hungarian army and spent time in several camps in the then Austro-Hungary.
The goal of the monograph is to affirm and demonstrate the other side of history, i.e. the history of the everyday life of the military and civil population during the First World War.
BOOK EXHIBIT AND PROMOTION
Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918
BOOK EXHIBIT AND PROMOTION
Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918
On Tuesday, February 3, 2009, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) is organizing an exhibit and promotion of the monograph – “Revealed testimonies– Soldiers’ Letters from the Great War 1914-1918” in the Culture Center in Kriva Palanka. The event will start at noon.
During the promotion, speeches will be given by Aleksandar Rangelov, director of the national institution Center of Culture – Kriva Palanka, professor Irena Stefoska, PhD from the Institute for National History and Jasmina Najdovska from FOSIM.
The monograph, which is a result of the one-year scientific and research work, presents rare documentation from the first half of the 20th century, to be more precise 204 letters, 59 postcards and 40 documents. Most of them are letters sent by and to Macedonian soldiers from North-Eastern Macedonia (the Kratovo, Probishtip and Zletovo region), mobilized in the Serbian and Bulgarian army during the First World War. There are also fifty-nine postcards sent to Macedonia by former soldiers of the Serbian army, who had been prisoners of war or surrendered themselves to the Austro-Hungarian army and spent time in several camps in the then Austro-Hungary.
The goal of the monograph is to affirm and demonstrate the other side of history, i.e. the history of the everyday life of the military and civil population during the First World War.
CONFERENCE
“Public Health in Macedonia and Roma: What Was Done and What Is Next?”
Òhe Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Center for Regional Research and Cooperation – Studiorum, are organizers of the conference “Public Health in Macedonia and Roma: What Was Done and What Is Next?”
The conference will be organized for the representatives of relevant institutions on central and local level, Roma and non-Roma NGOs, and community leaders.
The conference aims at:
•Assessing the implementation status of Roma Decade objectives, with a focus on health care; and
•Presenting and discussing successful practices on improving quality and access to health services in the country (Health Mediators’ Program and measures on improving reproductive health of Roma women in Serbia).
The conference will be held on the 22nd January 2009, at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Skopje; start: 10.00 hours.
Today, the Center for Civic Communications presented the fourth quarterly Report on the results of the public procurement process monitoring, which besides the regular analysis of public procurement procedures, also contains an analysis of the legal protection in the public procurement procedures. The report, inter alia, noted:
At the press conference held today, December 28, 2009, the NGO Infocentre, the Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM), vigorously condemned the attempt of the ruling majority to silence the civil society, as well as the instruments that it is using in order to disqualify the legitimate right and duty of citizens to monitor and evaluate the work of each government.
Representatives of the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia visited the redundant workers on hunger strike in Kumanovo and donated 50 blankets.
The Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) organized a press conference today, December 2, to familiarize the public with the new policy brief titled “Lisbon - Skopje – Thessaloniki: Homecoming Europe; Five reasons why Macedonia should start negotiations.”
The purpose of this policy brief is to reach both the political and the professional public in the Member States of the EU. This document is distributed to: permanent missions in Brussels, foreign ministers and embassies of the Member States in the Republic of Macedonia, the EU mission in Macedonia, MEPs, the Mission of Macedonia in Brussels and to all the relevant media in the EU.
“Construction of an open amphitheatre - summer scene”, - a project within the frames of the municipal Cultural events program, received the majority of votes at the fifth forum session, held on November 20 in the House of ARM in Strumica, being attended by 100 citizens The selected project was unanimously voted by the citizens of Strumica to be funded with 6.900.000 denars, 4.000.000 of which are a donation from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the rest from the budget of the municipality.
“The properly managed process can yield good results, but the participation in the process is equally important”, said Vladimir Milcin, executive director of FOSIM – the organization that implements the program in Strumica. He hopes that the project implementation will be fast, and that the forum process will become part of the practice of the municipality of Strumica.
On November 20, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM), in collaboration with the Human Rights Support Project and the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, organized a round table "Challenges before the adoption of the Law on Free Legal Assistance”. In the period between the two readings of the draft-law on free legal assistance in the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, the roundtable was used for a presentation of the decisions from the draft law, and for sharing comparative experiences on a level of the Council of Europe and the member states of the European Union, in light of the application of free legal assistance and access to justice.
Today, November 19, 2009, in Skopje in organization of the civil initiative “Citizens for European Macedonia” the debate titled “Pressures on the freedom of expression” was held.
Representatives of the Macedonian civil society scene believe that civil activism is sterilized due to the governing demo-Christian conservative policy, capitalism, consumerism and remnants of communism. Labeling and open hate speech, for the use of which there is no appropriate legislation in Macedonia, are the weapons which the government uses to silence the journalists and citizens. The civil sector and the media should not only react, but to openly talk about and fight against the silencing methods.
In the period of November 13-15, 2009, the “Creative Teaching and Learning” project implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia is organizing a conference in the Hotel Metropol in Ohrid on the topic “Social Justice Education - from training to reality” Four hundred teachers from eleven high schools from across the country will take part in the conference. These teachers had previously attended the trainings for social justice education, organized as part of the activities within the frames of the “Creative Teaching and Learning” project. 
On November 6, 2009, FOSIM organized a conference in Skopje with the topic “Increasing the financial and governing autonomy of the local self government”, presenting the findings and experiences from this project, implemented in the municipality of Krushevo.
The goal of this project is to increase the financial and administrative autonomy of the local self-government and to raise the capacities of the local communities for their increased participation in the adoption of decisions on a local level, qualification for independent establishment of the local priorities and their implementation, and improvement of the institutional setup and communication with the municipality.
The last conference within the frames of the project "Living in a multiethnic environment - citizens with equal rights, opportunities and protection", financed by the European Commission and FOSIM was held on October 22, in Skopje.
During the conference, there was a discussion about the results from the monitoring of the local administration, conducted from January 2008 to June 2009, in 24 Macedonian municipalities. The panelists in the discussion on the challenges for Macedonia on the path to a more tolerant society were Mersel Biljali, professor at FON, human rights experts Zharko Trajanoski and Mirjana Najcheska, as well as Naser Vejseli, deputy Ombudsman - regional office Kumanovo.
On October 22, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Center for Civil Communications presented the Report on the results from the monitoring of the public procurements process in the Republic of Macedonia on a central level.
Presenting the results from the monitoring and analysis of the public procurements control, the representatives of the expert team, Mrs. Vanja Mihajlova and Mr. Miroslav Trajanovski stressed that the state should strengthen the control over the public procurements process, thereby overcoming the current situation of an exceptionally low number of public procurement procedures which end up in court.
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia supported the publishing of the publication Citizens’ Guide for the Ministry of Justice (structure, competencies, services).
The conference “Lisbon – Skopje – Athens: MK@EU” took place on October 28, 2009 in Skopje. The conference was organized by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Macedonian Centre for European Training.
During the conference, which focused on the analysis of the 2009 Progress Report of the European Commission for the Republic of Macedonia, there was a discussion about the future steps that Macedonia should take in order to be admitted to the EU sooner.
On October 30, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia organized a reception in the Alexander Palace hotel at noon, on the occasion of the successful high school graduation of 106 Roma high school students, scholarship beneficiaries of the project “Alliance for Inclusion of Roma in Education”. The project, which is financed by the Roma Education Fund from Budapest and implemented in cooperation with the Department for development and promotion of education in the languages of the communities from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia, providing a total of 1464 scholarships in the past four years.
On October 5, 2009, in Veles, the publication “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” was promoted in front of 130 guests. Mirjana Najchevska and Sashko Todorovski are the authors of the publication. Sashko Todorovski gave the opening speech at the workshop, describing discrimination as a subtle phenomenon which is hard to determine. Sali Latifov, associate for health, social and civil protection in the Chashka municipality also gave a speech. He emphasized that the multiethnic life in Chashka is good, and that the municipality is making efforts to incite the citizens to mutually coexist in the municipality by engaging in sports and cultural activities. Zati Kesan, a representative of the Roma community and member of the association “Romani Bah” from Veles, was speaking about the experiences from the discrimination based on ethnicity. He stressed that the Roma community in the region is facing several problems in the social sphere, education and health – supporting his presentation with specific examples.
For the first time, the citizens of Krushevo have gathered in one place in order to discuss about the problems that they have in their municipality. Along with the 100 citizens attending the session, the representatives of the municipality, the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) were also attending. All of them were gathered by the “Community Forums Program”, which is implemented in 12 municipalities this year, including the municipality of Krushevo.
Moderator Lazar Trajkov acquainted the citizens with the goals of the program and stressed that the citizens should decide on what they would use the three million denars provided by the donor - Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and 1 million denars provided by the municipality. “At the end of the forum sessions, you – the citizens will select one or more projects that will be implemented with the already provided funds” Trajkov told the attendants. “Our goal is for you as citizens to be actively included in the forum, in order to hear your opinion and after the program is completed and the projects implemented, to have your other suggestions, in order to implement them by priority, mostly in your interest” – said the mayor of the Municipality of Krushevo – Vasko Damcheski.
The representative of the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency Ibrahim Mehmeti emphasized: Krushevo is a wonderful city, and that’s why I hope that with these projects the life of all the citizens in the municipality would be improved”. Sunchica Kostovska - Petrovska from FOSIM, stated that as an organization authorized for the implementation of the project in the municipality, they are calling on the citizens to be included in the forums as much as possible, since they now have the chance to make important decisions about their municipality.
The citizens voted on the three suggested topics: utility infrastructure, protection of the environment and water supply, selecting the topic of utility infrastructure with an enormous majority of votes. The citizens of Krushevo will identify the problems with the utility infrastructure during the forum sessions. As for what problem will be resolved, they will decide in March next year - when they will choose the worst problem with the utility infrastructure and this problem will be resolved as soon as possible.
On September 28, 2009, starting from 13:00 hrs in the “Kolta” restaurant, in the village of Mogila, the first forum session was organized as part of the “Community Forums Program”, implemented in the municipalities Novaci and Mogila. The program is financed by the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC), and implemented in these two municipalities by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia.
The attendants were addressed by the mayors of the two municipalities, greeting them and calling them to participate in as bigger a number as possible, because the successfulness of the forum depends on them, as well as what projects are to be prepared and implemented at the end. During the forum session, 11 working tables were formed: youth, advisors, education, sports, municipal administration, information technology, agriculture, business sector, environment, local community and health. Aside from the working tables, the rules of work of the forum were presented by the moderator Igor Tasevski, and unanimously accepted by the attending citizens. The date for the next forum session was also determined – October 26, 2009, starting at 13:00 hrs.
On September 30, 2009, in Delchevo, the “Guide for elimination of discrimination based on ethnicity” (from authors Mirjana Najchevska and Sashko Todorovski) was promoted. The Guide is published in Macedonian, and its versions in Albanian, Turkish, Serbian, Bosnian, Roma, Vlach and English language are currently being prepared.
On Saturday, September 12, 11:00 - 14:00 h, we will mark the International action day for democracy, free speech, human rights and civil liberties, and against censorship, mass surveillance and data retention.
Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, in cooperation with the NGO “Common values” and the former NGO Support Centers is organizing workshops for promotion of the publication “Guide to the national legislation in the sphere of the use of languages of the ethnic communities in the Republic of Macedonia”, published in the languages of the communities in the Republic of Macedonia and in English language. The workshops on the topic of “Use of the languages of the ethnic communities on a local level” will be held according to the following schedule:
Call for Applications - Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project - Moving Walls 17
In the context of the constant efforts for promotion of the election process in the Republic of Macedonia, and especially in the context of the last two election cycles (the early parliamentary elections in 2008 and the regular local and presidential elections in 2009), the Coalition “All for fair trial” implemented the project “Monitoring the institutional responses against the election irregularities”.
The Center for Civil Communications, in cooperation with the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM) organized a debate on the occasion of the publishing of the "Report on the results from the monitoring of the public procurements process in the Republic of Macedonia".
Sabina Fakic and German Filkov, project coordinators, Vanja Mihajlova, anticorruption expert and member of the project’s work team and Tome Nenovski, professor at the American University and also a member of the project’s work team.
On July 17, 2009, in the Holiday Inn hotel, in front of the representatives of the media, Parliament, the diplomatic core, the citizens’ organizations and the interested public, FOSIM promoted the Draft national strategy for resolution of the dispute with the Republic of Greece in regard of the name of the Republic of Macedonia, by the author Stojan Andov, MP from the Liberal Party.
The author of the Draft national strategy believes that it is necessary for the Government to change its position about this problem and provide visible signs that it is prepared for negotiations which would lead to a successful resolution in a very short period of time. “In order to do this, the Government needs to stop protecting the FYROM reference with its passive behaviour, and to publicly express preparedness to accept the geographic reference in the name of our country. At the same time, the Government should give up the referendum as an asset in the negotiations, since a decision for a referendum announced in advance, actually makes the negotiations illusory, and makes the Government look irrelevant and irresponsible – an unqualified partner in the negotiations” is stated in the introduction of the Draft national strategy for resolution of the name dispute of the Republic of Macedonia with the Republic of Greece.
Freedom Square and Citizens for European Macedonia, ordered a public opinion survey regarding building religious buildings on the Macedonia Square. The field research was conducted by Brima Gallup thanks to financial support by the Foundaiton Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM) between July 20th and 22nd using a representative sample of 500 persons from the municipality of Centar, with a margin of error of +/- 4%. .
320 third year students from 11 high schools from Skopje, Struga, Gostivar, Tetovo, Bitola, Krushevo and Veles participated in the Summer camp for intercultural education, as part of the activities within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” from July 1 to July 13, in the Hotel “Metropol” in Ohrid.
The Macedonian Centre for European Training (MCET) and Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia (FOSIM), published today the second report from the monitoring of Macedonia’s EU accession process, prepared within the frames of the project Accession Watch.
The Macedonian education and training system marks low achievements in regard of the five key education benchmarks of the EU: (1) Persons at the age of 18-24 who have dropped out of school too early; (2) Students with low grades in reading and understanding at the PISA test; (3) Persons at the age of 20-24 who have completed secondary education; (4) Number of graduated students at the Faculty of mathematics, natural sciences and technology per 1.000 young people at the age of 20-29 and (5) Participation of adults at the age of 25 to 64 years in the lifelong learning programs.
The Macedonian Center for European Training (MCET) and the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia, published the First report on Macedonia's EU accession process.
Today in Skopje, the “Citizens for European Macedonia” movement with the debate attended by the EU ambassador to Macedonia, H.E. Erwan Fouere, began the second cycle of the activities dedicated to the European perspectives of Macedonia.
On the occasion of April 8, the International Roma Day, George Soros was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is awarded to Mr. Soros by RNVO Roma 2002 for his exceptional commitment to Roma-related issues. Mr. Vladimir Milcin, the executive director of Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia (FOSIM) received the award on behalf of Mr. Soros.
On the 27th of February, 2009, the Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia organized a public event 2009 Budget of the Republic of Macedonia 2009. 
At the press conference, held on February 26, 2009, Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia and the Center for citizens’ communications presented the first quarterly report from the project “Monitoring public procurements on a central level”. In this first quarterly report, 40 public procurement procedures monitored in the period November 2008 – February 2009 have been included.
A three hour debate with the Macedonian minority as a topic was aired on one of the most viewed TV shows in Greece. The open program of the Alter television gathered representatives of Vinozhito and politicians from the biggest Greek political parties.
Macedonia must be a country of citizens who are living free and without fear. It must be a country in which the European values prevail and a decent place for living of the current and future generations. Macedonia is sick and tired of populist promises, propaganda and fake patriotism, stated the initiators of the “Citizens for European Macedonia” movement during the Saturday debate in Skopje and stressed: “The government should solve the specific problems of the citizens; the economic, social, political, educational and health problems… The economy is what supports our life, but the economy is slowly sinking, and the government is swimming. Will it be swimming in October as well, when all of us will be drowning?”
Today, the citizens’ initiative consisting of 27 organizations reacted to the intensified “antique” propaganda of the Government, which is causing serious material damage and is compromising the European integration of the Republic of Macedonia.
The NGO Info-centre, under the auspices of its "Media Mirror" project, conducts a qualitative monitoring of the media, focused on the manner in which they inform the public about the events and developments surrounding the Presidential and Local Elections 2009.
The first part of the training “Social justice education” within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, taking place in the hotel Metropol in Ohrid, January 30 – February 1, 2009 will be attended by 110 professors from the high schools “Kiril Pejcinovik” – Tetovo and “Kocho Racin” – Veles.
The first part of the training “Social justice education” within the frames of the project “Creative teaching and learning” implemented by the Foundation Open Society Institute – Macedonia, taking place in the hotel Metropol in Ohrid, January 23-25, 2009 will be attended by 80 professors from the high school “Josip Broz – Tito” from Skopje.
During the training, the participants will acquire the necessary techniques through practical examples for getting familiar and dealing with the phenomenon of ethnic, racial and gender prejudices and conflicts, in order to apply these experiences in the teaching process, as well as in everyday life.
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