Wednesday, 9 December 2020
ADDRESS BY VICE-PRESIDENT MISOVSKI AT THE EVENT ON THE OCCASION OF MARKING THE INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION DAY
Dear Deputy-Prime Minister for Fight Against Corruption and Crime, Sustainable Development and Human Resources, Mr. Ljupco Nikolovski,
Dear Minister of Justice, Mr. Bojan Maricikj,
Dear President of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption, Ms. Ivanovska,
Dear Ambassador of the EU to North Macedonia, Your Excellency, Mr. David Geer,
Dear representative of the platform for civil organizations for fight against corruption,
Dear media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me, on behalf of the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, Mr. Talat Xhaferi, and my own behalf and on behalf of the MPs of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia to congratulate this event which marks the International Day of the Fight Against Corruption, which unfortunately seems to have always existed and constantly ravages the societies, undermines the foundation and the healthy operation of institutions, followed by the state apparatus of a country. With each upcoming phase of democratic development of a country, the corruptive behavior adapts and finds inventive ways to mine every good will, each excellently written law and bylaws which aim to see, prevent, reduce and punish such negative and undesirable phenomena. Actually, the marking of this day, does not celebrate something, contrary, it is just another reminder to all the creators of state policies, to all implementers of the state policies and to all bodies which are established, formed and supported to conduct the monitoring and to be the watchful eye of each and the slightest appearance of this negative phenomenon in order to prevent and disable the beginning and the spread in a timely manner, i.e. the disease of the major segments in the social tissue, to be more determined and strong in the decisive fight against corruption and awareness raising for this evil. Thereby, The fundamental and leading measure shall be the word of the Law and the Constitution, the highest legislative act of a country, the guard of the rights and freedoms of the citizens, the protector of each citizen whom primarily and above all should be respected the fundamental right before the law, that is – the presumption of innocence, until the moment when the judiciary will take a decision on liberation or conviction, of course with a punishment appropriate to the offense. Thereby, not even for a moment, we shall not forget that each individual, with every procedure, decision that taken that is not within the framework of the law, regardless how less important it may seem, how irrelevant in the whole system, it starts the circle which then expands more and more covering major segments, individuals, institutions, thus creating a magic circle which is hard to exit. Therefore, we shall all be aware and conscious, transparent and accountable, each in his own scope of work, this is the only way to heal the ill tissue. Of course, it is not a rapid process, however, I do believe that we are on a good path, namely, we have all preconditions for it to be so. Hereby, I certainly imply the Law on Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interests whose primary goal is strengthening the role and independence of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption and general strengthening of the legal and institutional anticorruption 
framework and achieving a more efficient prevention and fight against corruption. However, I will not talk on the adopted National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2024, drafted and adopted by the Commission, the President of the Commission is invited to talk about it, I will just say that the way of drafting the strategy, the wide scope of experts, and also stakeholders included in its drafting and the transparency during the whole process are to be praised. The Action Plan is a guide to all institutions, on where they stopped, in which direction they should move, in order to get a real picture and review of what is a short – term and long – term goal. Dear guests, allow me to stick to the legislature, as the highest legislative institution which adopts laws that are the foundation for each further action of the state apparatus. AAs you already know, on 16ty February, the Assembly dissolved and adopted a decision on 12 April 2020 for the country to go on early parliamentary elections, which means, we had dysfunctional Assembly. For the situation to be even more burdened, we, the region and the whole world faced and unfortunately is still facing a global pandemics COVID-19, which greatly shook the health and economic systems of every country individually and the necessary health protocols recommended by our health institutions imposed a different way of functioning of institutions of all sectors in the country. I am discussing this because I want to clarify why the Assembly, and before the Assembly, the Government and the relevant Ministries of the Government did not succeed to respect the determined deadlines in the Action Plan of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption regarding the amendments of the Rules of Procedures of the Assembly, the Law on Courts, of the Law on the Council of Public Prosecutors, the Law on State Owned Sports Facilities, for the establishment of a unique record of movable property of the Republic of North Macedonia, then the failure to adopt the National Strategy for Media Development in the period 2021-2025 and the amendments to the Law on Media and the Electoral Code.
However, I am optimistic that considering our strategic determination to be a full member in the European Union, regardless how incomprehensible it may seem in these difficult days for our country, our institutions and diplomacy, at the end, for our citizens who firmly believe in European values and fairness, that we will continue undoubtedly towards the European integration path, towards fulfilling the norms and standards which will enable a better life for our citizens, fair and equal treatment in front of the justice, respect of their rights and freedoms and enabling fair and equal competitive conditions in the labor market. We will do it for the good of our citizens, for the good of our state and the future of our future generations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Assembly has been and will remain the house of democracy, the house of the citizens where their voice is transformed into parliamentary legitimacy. We will continue with practicing the transparency in our work, by publishing all public information, and we are open for cooperation and additional notice if there is any false information or malicious speculations in the public. All that is needs is just to ask for the true information from the responsible entity. For us the trust of our citizens is fundamental, therefore we remain extremely transparent and open to the public.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ms. Ivanova, I express support and I encourage You to lead this battle against corruption with even more determination, of course, while respecting the constitutionally guaranteed right to presumption of innocence, and President Xhaferi, me and the whole legislature are available for cooperation and assistance within the framework of our competences.
Thank you for the attention and I wish you a successful work.