Evaluation of Public Administration Reforms in North Macedonia from the Perspective of European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports

Abstract

Public administration of the Republic of North Macedonia is constantly under evaluation in the Annual Progress Reports prepared by the European Commission. The main recommendations from the European Commission refer to the systematic change of laws, but there is no argument as to how these changes will contribute to the elimination of fundamental problems. Although a considerable number of laws have been ammended and accepted under the motto of reforms, all of them lack the result, which is the creation of a public administration that is able to satisfy the needs of a democratic country. This paper analyzes all the European Commission’s Annual Progress Reports of the 2005-2021 period and their recommendations. The finding is that there are repetitions of the same shortcomings in almost all Annual Progress Reports. This leads to the conclusion that the reforms are unsuccessful – they are misused either for political needs, or are applied selectively. The support of the political opposition should be sought to assure that there is any real progress. This is possible only if all the politicians gain the conviction that the reforms are in the service of the citizens and not of the political conjunctures in power. There is still a lot of work to be done to improve the country’s image on the road to the EU, while the challenges related to the public administration reform must be seriously addressed by all decision-making structures.