The President of the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia, Darko Kostadinovski, announced that the preparatory session for reviewing the Law on the Use of Languages will take place from March 19 to 21, 2025., reports RFE.
Kostadinovski revealed that over 20 experts, including constitutional law specialists, international law experts, and former judges from the European Court of Human Rights, have been proposed to offer their opinions on the matter. These proposals, along with legal controversies, are expected to be finalized and published on December 24, 2024.
He emphasized that no one is above the Constitution, declaring, “Anyone who thinks that the rule of law and a legal state will be hindered by manipulations, pressures, and political influences is wasting their time! Everyone is obligated to respect the Constitution.”
The Constitutional Court has also requested “amicus curiae” (friend of the court) advice from the Venice Commission, which will be presented on March 14 and 15 and published a few days later (March 17-18) before the session.
The Court had initially postponed the session on December 11 due to the absence of two Albanian judges, Osman Kadriu and Naser Ajdari, who boycotted the process.
Kostadinovski expects the two judges to attend the next session and present their legal arguments. He clarified that the Constitutional Court requires at least five judges to reach decisions, except in cases where a qualified majority is needed.
The Law on the Use of Languages, consisting of 25 articles, was adopted in 2018 and came into effect in 2019. The law extends the use of the Albanian language in judicial procedures, on banknotes, police uniforms, and in the issuance of personal documents in both Macedonian and Albanian.
The law has faced opposition, with 13 initiatives against it, including political parties. These initiatives challenge not only the law’s name but also its provisions, particularly the expansion of the use of the Albanian language in public institutions.
In 2019, the Venice Commission evaluated the law, noting that some of its provisions exceeded international standards for regional and minority languages. The Commission expressed concern that certain requirements, especially in judicial procedures, might be unrealistic for public institutions to implement fully.
The Law on the Use of Languages has been pending review by the Constitutional Court for five years. The “Balancer” mechanism, which regulated fair representation of communities in state institutions, was also included in the agenda shortly after VMRO-DPMNE came to power in North Macedonia.
