Tuesday, 3 December 2019
Address by the President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia at the National Conference: “Improved parliamentary oversight by strengthening relations with external oversight actors” organized by the OSCE Mission to Skopje
Dear Ambassador Clemens Koja,
Dear fellow MPs,
Dear Secretary General Ivanova,
Dear representatives of independent state bodies,
Representatives of international and non-governmental organizations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to welcome the launching of this conference organized by our OSCE friends and the Ambassador Clemens Koja, and to wish, on behalf of the MPs of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia and my own behalf for a successful and fruitful discussion. I must say at the very beginning that the topics set for today’s two sessions are extremely important and essential for the proper fulfillment of the role of the cornerstone of representative democracy, namely, the oversight, along with the legislative and representative function. Of course, these three basic functions are closely interrelated, complementary and represent a whole that is an indicator of the degree of maturity of a society and government system.
Almost three months ago we had training on Constituency Relations, which was also organized by the OSCE Mission to Skopje discussing the topic of the representative function of the Assembly, and today we continue with the oversight function which is, in essence, a logical flow of the legislative function of the legislature. Why? Because laws, no matter how well and perfectly written on paper, no matter how much they comply with the European legislation and directives, they are still only dead words on paper and what really matters in essence is their implementation, upholding and consistent application in practice, which really makes visible their impact on improving or maybe aggravating the lives of citizens. Certainly, for the oversight to be effective, several prerequisites need to be met, that is, as stated in the IPU Global Parliamentary Report 2017 – Parliamentary Oversight, it takes: a strong mandate with clearly defined powers to hold government to account; committed and willing participants who are prepared to use the powers available to them to hold government to account and sufficient capacity in parliament to give teeth to these powers, including independent sources of research and analyses and a sliding scale of possible sanctions.
Distinguished,
The role of the Assembly is multidimensional, that is, while it is the voice of the citizens, defending their interests by exerting oversight to hold the executive power responsible for the implementation of policies and decisions that directly affect their lives, taking into account the fundamental goals, namely the promotion of citizens' freedoms and their well-being, at the same time it improves state management. In short, it seeks to secure a balance of power that, if unrestricted, without oversight and control, is in danger of exceeding the limits of authority, disrupting its balance and causing irreversible damage to the legal state, to the trust of citizens in the fairness and accountability of the state institutions and, of course, to the general welfare of all. Realistically, I do not know to what extent everyone in the legislature understands its power, but I am firmly determined, and I believe that I have the support of all Members of Parliament, for the Assembly to be as the Constitution has foreseen, a true beacon of democracy, where, besides the will of the Members of Parliament, which is indisputable, we have and create the other necessary prerequisites. That is, with regard to the oversight function, we have made legislative changes to ensure that the standing working bodies in the field of civil rights and freedoms whose findings are the basis for initiating a procedure to establish accountability of public office holders, or the Committee for Supervising the Work of the National Security Agency and the Intelligence Agency and the Committee on Oversight of the Implementation of Measures for Interception of Communications, are active stakeholders, protecting civil rights and freedoms at the same time. We are certainly open to cooperation with external stakeholders like the Ombudsman, and with independent state bodies such as audit institutions, various commissions and agencies, national institutions and, of course, the non-governmental sector; and this is because we do not pretend to be the best experts in all areas, but we are open to cooperation in order to provide the best conditions for optimal life and standard of living for the citizens. In this context, I must emphasize that working with a renowned international organization such is the OSCE, and with other loyal friends and strategic partners of ours, is invaluable. They provide expert opinions and know-how, or introduce best known and possible practices and certainly have the capacity and resources that are at our disposal. It is up to us to put the legislature on the pedestal guaranteed by the Constitution and to ensure that its power will be directed to the progress and development of the state in the right direction.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are aware that in order to have a truly functioning Assembly, it is crucial to have a financially independent Assembly and, of course, an independent parliamentary service, professional, depoliticized, fully committed and ready to respond to the special and unpredictable needs of the Assembly. And when it comes to the predictability in the work of the Assembly, you know that we are making efforts to set up a parliamentary calendar, however impossible it may seem given the rapid development of events in our country. We are fortunate to have the unreserved support of our international friends who are with us now as we take these extremely important steps, and I am grateful for all the support we receive from them all. We have common projects, but also processes such as the Jean Monnet Dialogue, which is unique in that it allows for an immediate, unimpeded and constructive debate between members of all the parliamentary groups which are unanimous regarding the kind of Assembly we want to have, not only for this parliamentary composition, but for every subsequent constituency that can rely on an independent parliamentary service.
Dear friends,
I wish for constructive and useful discussions among all stakeholders in dealing with the challenges awaiting our legislature.
Thank you for your attention!