Back Improving the Free Legal Aid System in North Macedonia – partners and beneficiaries discuss future milestones

Skopje 7 March 2023
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Improving the Free Legal Aid System in North Macedonia – partners and beneficiaries discuss future milestones

In order to discuss the main milestones and agree with key actors and beneficiaries on the upcoming activities to advance free legal aid in North Macedonia, the 1st Steering Committee meeting of the EU and Council of Europe joint action “Towards a Consolidated and More Efficient Free Legal Aid (FLA) System in North Macedonia” took place in Skopje.

The meeting brought together representatives of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Bar Association, Foundation Open Society Macedonia, representatives of the authorised CSOs and Legal Clinics, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretariat for European Affairs, Delegation of the European Union to North Macedonia and the Action team to discuss the current challenges of the FLA system and to exchange views on the planned activities under Horizontal Facility III programme.

During the meeting it was noted that as a result to the fruitful co-operation with beneficiaries and partners, FLA action under the previous phase of the programme had a strong impact towards achieving enhanced access to justice for the citizens by supporting those needing legal aid. This was also noted at the European Commission Progress Report for North Macedonia for 2022 and in the official statistics at the MoJ’. The FLA action under the third phase of the programme (2023-2026) builds upon the results achieved in the previous years by addressing the remaining challenges in this area and it will contribute to the implementation of the new “Strategy for reform of the Judicial Sector 2023-2027” currently being drafted by the Ministry of Justice.

During the presentation of the future activities under HFIII, a special focus was brought on the activities for improvement of the efficiency and the functioning of the MoJ’s Department for Free Legal Aid and its Regional Offices; activities related to strengthening the legal provisions on Free Legal Aid in civil, administrative and also criminal proceedings; capacity building initiatives and awareness raising activities etc. During the meeting it was also highlighted that the action will continue to strengthen the co-ordination and communication among the key stakeholders by supporting the facilitation of the meetings of the National Co-ordination Body (NCB) for implementation of the Law on Free Legal Aid. The participants highlighted that further support and special focus need to be put in the area of legal aid in criminal proceedings and development of the software for appointing of ex-officio lawyers for the Bar Association. These activities will increase the quality and the efficiency of FLA provision to the citizens in North Macedonia.

Ms Elena Jovanovska-Brezoska, Head of Unit at the Council of Europe, reiterated that the Council of Europe will continue to be committed to supporting North Macedonia in its efforts to bring justice closer to its citizens. In this direction, she thanked the EU for their support and to express sincere gratitude to the European Union Delegation for its faithful partnership and financial support, which has made the HF III possible. Ms Jovanovska-Brezoska mentioned that the constructive discussion will strengthen the work with the partners, will give new ideas for progress in the field, and will align the Project’s activities with the real needs of beneficiaries.

The action “Towards a Consolidated and More Efficient Free Legal Aid (FLA) System in North Macedonia” is part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye III”, a joint European Union and Council of Europe programme implemented by the Council of Europe.