The Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia (Macedonian: Устав на Република Северна Македонија; Albanian: Kushtetuta e Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) is a codified constitution outlining North Macedonia's system of government and basic human rights. It was adopted in the Parliament of the then-Republic of Macedonia on 17 November 1991.[1]
In 2001 it was announced that the country had adopted amendments to its Constitution which enshrined 15 basic amendments and has granted rights to the country's ethnic Albanian population, as part of the Ohrid Agreement.[2] [3]
In 2018, the government agreed to the Prespa agreement with Greece, where the constitutional name of the country would be changed from the "Republic of Macedonia" to the "Republic of North Macedonia" in exchange for assurances that Greece would no longer object to North Macedonia's integration in international organizations.[4] Following ratification of the agreement and a non-binding referendum, Macedonia's Parliament approved a draft constitutional amendment on 3 December 2018.[5] On 11 January 2019, the final version of the amendment was approved by parliament and was published the next day in the Official Gazette, giving force to the amendment.
The constitution stresses the importance of equality for all citizens. In Article 1, it is stated that "The Republic of North Macedonia is a sovereign, independent, democratic and social state. The sovereignty of the Republic of North Macedonia is indivisible, inalienable and nontransferable." Other examples of articles state things such as the fact that Skopje is the capital of the country, and that the Cyrillic alphabet is the official alphabet of Macedonian (according to Article 7). Other sections of the constitution concerns rights pertaining to the freedoms and rights of citizens, ideas concerning the organization of the government and judicial systems, the separate constitutional court of North Macedonia. There are also sections that detail the local government's rights, and international relations. In total, the constitution has 134 articles; it also has 32 amendments that have been put in place.[6]
According to Article 109 of the Macedonian Constitution, the Constitutional Court is a body that protects the constitutionality and legality of the law.[7] The establishment of such a specialized court since the country's independence in 1991, is in line with the continental model of protecting the constitutionality of legal acts.[8] According to the Constitution, the Constitutional Court does not fall within the system of divisions of power, consequently, it is a special institution with a higher authority than the other institutions, with no right to appeal to its decisions, therefore perceived as "the corner of the constitutional democracy".[9]
Article 109 of the Constitution describes the organization and structure of the Constitutional Court:
Article 110 of the Constitution outlines the responsibilities and powers of the Constitutional Court:The Constitutional Court has proactive and broad powers through checks and balances on the entire legal system, and these powers could be differentiated into three distinct categories: a) a posteriori review, b) protection of the human rights of the citizens, and c) other powers.
Judicial review and conformity of the legislative acts are at the core of the competences conferred to the Constitutional Court by the Constitution.[10] Therefore, this gives power to the Court to apply a posteriori review of conformity of national laws, but also international agreements as they need to enter the national legal system by ratification in the Parliament, as the Macedonian legal system is dualist. Any citizen can submit a procedure for judicial review (actio popularis), even if the citizen does not have a direct legal interest; additionally, the Court also has the power to initiate judicial review of a specific legislation. Article 15 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court outlines the content of the submission initiative before the Court.[11]
Additionally, the Constitutional Court is also conferred the power to secure the enjoyment of rights, outlined in Article 110(3) of the Constitution, after a constitutional complaint is submitted by an individual to the Court. The procedure for this constitutional complaint is elaborated in Article 50 of the Constitution:This legal power could be traced back to the powers of the Yugoslav Federal Constitutional Court.[12]
In addition, the Constitutional Court decides when there is a "positive or negative conflicts of competency" among the different branches of government, as well as national bodies, and the bodies of the local government. Lastly, according to Article 83 of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court decides to withhold the immunity or approve detention for the President of the Republic.