The Constitutional Court in North Macedonia has decided to temporarily suspend a decision of the Ministry of Justice regarding the possibility of declaring ethnic affiliation on birth certificates.
The Constitutional Court deems that the Ministry’s decision is in violation of laws and the Constitution, and the main reason for the suspension is that the decision was not published in the Official Gazette within the seven-day deadline after its approval.
While the Constitutional Court is expected to make a final decision, ethnic affiliation will not be stated on the certificates.
Justice Minister Krenar Lloga closely followed the Constitutional Court session. He later told journalists that with this decision, the Court is opening a “Pandora’s Box” since in many other cases the rule of publishing a decision in the Official Gazette within a seven-day deadline has not been respected.
The Minister blamed the Government Secretariat for the delay in issuing the Ministry of Justice’s decision in the Official Gazette.
Noting that it is not the first time that announcements are delayed in the Official Gazette, Lloga stated that “starting from tomorrow, I will personally submit dozens of initiatives to the Constitutional Court for the violation of the legal deadline for publishing any law or legal act by institutions in the Official Gazette”.
He announced that a new text will be prepared soon, which will be identical to the old decision, ensuring that the legal deadlines for publication in the Official Gazette will be respected.
Justice Minister Krenar Lloga requested the inclusion of ethnic affiliation on certificates due to false declarations during job competitions in the administration or public institutions by Macedonians who declared themselves as “Albanians” or as members of other ethnic minorities in competitions for reserved positions according to the Ohrid Framework Agreement for members of these communities.
The possibility of presenting ethnic affiliation on certificates has been a longstanding demand of the Alliance for Albanians, of which Minister Lloga is a member.
Lloga recently published on social media his own certificate stating “Albanian” under the ethnic affiliation column.
However, a number of Macedonian legal experts, including Lloga’s predecessor Renata Deskoska (SDSM), consider that ethnic affiliation on certificates is not legal.
Currently, birth, marriage, and death certificates in North Macedonia state only the individual’s name, surname, address, and citizenship (of North Macedonia), but not ethnic affiliation.
