With less than a month remaining until the enforcement of the law that renders personal documents with the old name of the state, the Republic of Macedonia, invalid, institutions are examining legal possibilities to extend their validity beyond February 12.

This is because nearly half of the passport and ID card holders have not yet been able to replace them with documents bearing the new name, the Republic of North Macedonia.

Among them are citizens who told Radio Free Europe about difficulties applying for new documents due to chaos and long queues in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs counters.

Long waits for documents with the name North Macedonia

Ibrahim Sinani from Skopje says he applied in October of the previous year and had received an appointment to submit the application, but despite this, he has been waiting for hours to complete the necessary procedures.

“I have been waiting for two hours, but I cannot enter to pay for the passport. I need it faster, but they tell me I have to wait. Inside, there is only one employee, while outside, 50 of us are waiting for hours,” says Sinani.

Another citizen, who did not wish to be identified, says she needs a new ID card because she is afraid she will not be able to get married at the civil registry offices with the current document.

“I need to get married in April. My ID is valid, but it is under the name Republic of Macedonia. And, it may happen that the official may not accept it, so I am waiting in line to apply for an ID with the new name of the state,” she says.

Vesna Stojanovska is from the city of Veles and is seeking a fast-track passport, which implies getting it within 48 hours, but she has not been able to exercise this right for several days.

“If I get in line now, I can wait until evening and not do my job. This has happened to me for several days. It is terrible. It is sad what we are going through. We wait for photography, we wait to submit documents, we wait for their withdrawal,” says Stojanovska.

Ministry of Interior: 1 million 170 thousand people have been issued passports

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia, until December 31, 2023, around 1 million 170 thousand citizens out of more than 1 million 800 thousand residents in the country have been issued new passports.

However, around 2.5 million people hold Macedonian passports, which means that all of them need to replace them with new ones.

The change of passports is an obligation arising from the agreement reached on June 17, 2018, between the then Macedonia and Greece for changing its name to North Macedonia.

The replacement of documents is an obligation from the Agreement with Greece.

According to this Agreement, Macedonian citizens must change their IDs, passports, and driver’s licenses within five years from the entry into force of the constitutional changes, and this period expires in February 2024.

Considering the slow dynamics of issuing these documents, President Stevo Pendarovski has proposed extending the deadline until the fall of this year.

However, for this to happen, the approval of Greece is needed since it is a bilateral agreement.

Kovačevski: Extension of the deadline only after Greece’s approval

“We will act immediately after the President of the country, Stevo Pendarovski, talks to the Greek presidency. We are dealing with legal solutions based on constitutional changes and approved by the Assembly. Making legal changes without the approval of all signatories would not be so simple, and the question is how feasible it would be,” said Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski.

The extension of the deadline has also been requested by the Macedonian opposition. It estimates that the deadline should be postponed at least until 2027.

“It takes at least six years for all citizens to be able to obtain personal documents if the entire procedure for issuing them continues at this pace. So, if the law for their replacement was adopted in 2021, the issuance of new documents or 2.5 million passports cannot be completed before 2027, so we demand the deadline to be extended,” said the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski.

Bilalli: Extension of the deadline does not violate the Agreement with Greece

International relations experts also consider that President Stevo Pendarosvski’s initiative should be expedited and as such does not imply a change in the essence of the Agreement with Greece.

“Bilateral diplomacy is needed, i.e., contacts need to be made at the right level with Greek institutions to come to an agreement on a technical agreement, which is also recognized in international law as a ‘gentleman’s agreement’. Such a technical agreement does not at all violate the agreement between the two states because it is a matter of methodology and dynamics in the further implementation of the agreement. So, it has nothing to do with the content but only with the extension of its implementation,” says Mersel Bilalli, a professor of international law at the FON University in Skopje.

The Prespa Agreement with Greece, reached through international mediation, enabled North Macedonia’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.