Back Venice Commission calls on North Macedonia to re-examine new language law and to abandon the provisions on bilingualism in judicial proceedings

Venice Commission calls on North Macedonia to re-examine new language law and to abandon the provisions on bilingualism in judicial proceedings

In its opinion adopted today, the Venice Commission has called on the authorities of North Macedonia to re-examine the Law on the Use of Languages through consultations with all parties concerned.

The Council of Europe’s legal experts underline that in comparison with the 2008 legislation, the new law considerably extends the use of the Albanian language and in many respects goes beyond the European standards set by the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. 

While welcoming the willingness of the authorities to improve the linguistic situation of communities, the Venice Commission finds that in certain areas the new law may go too far by imposing what may prove to be unrealistic legal obligations on the public institutions, in particular concerning the use of Albanian in judicial proceedings, coupled with heavy sanctions in case of non-compliance and the possibility of reversing judicial decisions, if there is the lack of translation and interpretation during the proceedings.

According to the opinion, this approach could significantly slow down the functioning of the entire judiciary, risking serious breaches of the right to a fair trial, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. The Commission further notes that the language law lacks clarity in terms of which provisions apply only to Albanian and which ones also to other community languages.
The Venice Commission makes several recommendations to the authorities of North Macedonia, especially abandoning the provisions relating to the bilingualism in judicial proceedings. It also recommends that the obligation to use the Albanian language in internal and interinstitutional communication between civil servants be limited to the written official communications or its entry into force be postponed until proper implementation of that provision appears realistic.  
Concerning the enforcement of pecuniary sanctions, the Council of Europe’s legal experts suggest that it should be postponed until the law is amended in order to provide sufficient legal clarity, to reduce the amounts of fines as well as to introduce the element of fault and the principle of proportionality.
The authorities are also invited to carry out an analysis of the enforcement of the 2008 law and the assessment of the budgetary and human resources impact of the new language law.

The full text of the Opinion is expected to be published by the end of the day on Monday, the 9th of December 2019, at the Venice Commission’s website.

Venice 6 December 2019
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The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) provides expertise within the Council of Europe system to respond to requests for legislative expertise and policy advice on strengthening justice, fighting economic crime and combating discrimination, as well as freedom of expression and the media, and constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (known as the Venice Commission). This is done in full respect of the independence and functioning specificities of the Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and provides a key support to accession processes to the EU. If there are Horizontal Facility actions in the field of interest in respective Beneficiary, the request for an expert opinion can be accommodated directly by those actions.

 

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Ministers (and other members of the government), the speaker of parliament, heads of parliamentary committees, Ombudsperson institutions or independent state institutions of the Beneficiary concerned (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye) can make a request for an expert opinion under the ECM.

Furthermore, specifically for issues which fall within the area of competence of the Venice Commission, the European Union as well as Council of Europe organs (i.e. the Secretary General, Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities) can also submit requests for ECM assistance.

In addition, requests for amicus curiae briefs by the Venice Commission can also be made by constitutional courts.

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