North Macedonia and Serbia and their people have traditionally good relations and politicians should follow and foster this treasure. Bilateral economic relations are excellent, reaffirmed during the pandemic, when Serbia was the first country to provide vaccines. We extremely value this act of solidarity, says Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj in an interview with Serbian daily Politika.

“Prime Minister Zaev and President Vucic are already working on strengthening ties through the mini-Schengen project, which is another proof of the friendship and closeness between the countries’ citizens,” says Minister Marichikj.

He says the courts have finally been freed of political pressure and try fairly as a result.

“Citizens are seeing this and it is one of the main reasons why confidence in the rule of law and judiciary is gradually coming back,” notes Marichikj.

On corruption and the now-defunct Special Prosecutor’s Office, he says the most recent European Commission Progress Report has acknowledged the good progress in the implementation of the judiciary reform strategy regarding the Priebe urgent reform priorities, while adding that corruption uprooting is not an easy or quick fix, with many obstacles on the path.

“Since I was appointed Justice Minister, my priority has been an independent judiciary that is free of pressure. Of course, this does not mean there isn’t any, both from a political and business aspect. The Government has removed its hands from the judiciary. The Judicial Council is currently implementing a model of filtering judges and courts, identifying all those who worked under someone’s influence. We already have 12 dismissed judges after it was established they had acted unprofessionally, affected the statute of limitations of cases or protected someone. This is the path of bringing back citizens’ trust in the judiciary and its protection from any type of influence,” underlines Marichikj in the interview.