The U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, has expressed frustration with the state of the judiciary, which is among the most criticized due to corruption, political influence, lack of efficiency, and professionalism.<\/p>\n
Ambassador Aggeler stated that despite the commitment and significant financial assistance from the U.S. government in recent decades to establish a functional and independent judicial system, the results are lacking.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, our investment in the progress of the judiciary did not yield the expected results,\u201d said Aggeler.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to progress in the judiciary, we are disappointed. Over the past thirty years, we have invested half a billion dollars in law enforcement and good governance programs, but we are not seeing the improvements and reforms we expected from such a significant investment,\u201d said the U.S. ambassador Angela Aggeler in an interview with Kapital newspaper.<\/p>\n
She expressed her concern about the presence of corruption not only in the judiciary but also in other areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSystemic corruption throughout the country in all sectors is harming the people of North Macedonia. You all deserve a society, a judiciary, a government whose actions are transparent and serve you \u2013 the citizens. It is the foundation of a just and functioning democracy. This is where the government should focus, regardless of which party is in power,\u201d Aggeler stated.<\/p>\n
According to her, \u201cthe judiciary should be an independent sphere, fully self-funded and non-political of the government. Political leaders should desire this, and citizens should demand it\u201d.<\/p>\n
The United States placed the Mayor of Struga Municipality, Ramiz Merko, on the list of persons banned from entering the U.S. on 20 June due to his involvement in significant corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cMerko misappropriated funds and interfered in judicial and other public processes, damaging public trust in the democratic institutions and officials of North Macedonia,\u201d stated the announcement from the U.S. Department of State.<\/p>\n
Criticism of the judiciary and political parties for interfering in the work of the judiciary has also come from the European Union.<\/p>\n
European Union Ambassador David Geer has announced the arrival of a mission to Skopje to assess the work of the Judicial Council, the highest judicial institution in North Macedonia, which selects and monitors the work of judges.<\/p>\n
However, the Council has been heavily criticized for the appointment of partisan figures in leadership positions within the judiciary and for not taking action in more cases related to the dismissal or prosecution of high-ranking state officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, has expressed frustration with the state of the judiciary, which is among the most criticized due to corruption, political influence, lack of efficiency, and professionalism. Ambassador Aggeler stated that despite the commitment and significant financial assistance from the U.S. government in recent decades to establish a functional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":57009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[164],"tags":[497,3305,2841,1276,243,151,298,860,490,1250],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n