The President of Republic of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov, has decided not to sign the Decree for the proclamation of the Law on Ratifying the Final Agreement for settlement of the differences as described in Resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council, for the termination of the validity of the Interim Accord of 1995, and for establishment of strategic partnership between the parties.

The decision of President Gjorge Ivanov and his not signing the Decree on the Law for ratifying the name agreement is assessed by the Government as expected, but does not affect the implementation of the agreement.

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture from around the world today is marked as a need for education and raising public awareness about the seriousness of the consequences, but also for taking actions for preventing torture and violence. With the purpose of encouraging victims of torture not to be voiceless, but rather brave and determined in the fight for their rights, and also in demanding responsibility of the institutions in taking measures in the fight against violence and inhumanity, more than thirty years ago, Amnesty International launched the campaign #StopTorture. CIVIL – Center for Freedom is calling on all citizens to be alert, and not voiceless witnesses of violence and torture.

France and the Netherlands continue to oppose the start of the negotiations with Macedonia. Paris and Amsterdam, fearing that any such start of negotiations with new candidate countries would have a negative effect on their domestic public, would like for the start of the negotiations with Skopje and Tirana to be postponed until after the European elections in spring 2019, say diplomatic sources of the Council of the EU for MIA.

From other events of the day, we underline the presentation of the Report of the Ombudsman on the conditions in prisons, police stations and psychiatric hospitals. The Directorate for Execution of Sanctions and the Administration of the Skopje Prison need to urgently take measures for respect of the dignity and integrity of the detainees in the Skopje Prison, because the Ombudsman had determined during the visits that detainees were searched in the “on-duty” room, where they are exposed to official staff looking at them, and because of lack of female staff, in the second shift, the supervision over female prisoners is performed by members of the Security Sector, male staff, which is contrary to the Mandela Rules.

Today at the 50th session of Parliament, the MP’s voted for the President and three members of the Energy Regulatory Commission. The opposition voted against the proposals, arguing the independence of the candidates.

Marko Bislimovski has been appointed as President, and Natasa Veljanovska, Atanasko Tunevski and Gushtrim Ramadani as members. The Energy Regulatory Commission has three more members, which have been previously elected.

D.Muratov