Effective and Transparent Administration in Service for the Citizens

On the Path Towards The EU: Effective and Transparent Administration in Service for the Citizens

On 25th March 2020, the European Council adopted a de­cision to open accession negotiations with North Mace­donia, a veteran EU candidate country of 16 years. As the opening negotiation chapters 23 and 24 cover the European fundamental prin­ciples and rights as well as the judiciary, the topic of ensuring effective and citizen-centric public services and good governance gradually evolves to a priority reform agenda.

The focus of this report is to critically evaluate the public administration legislation and practices in North Macedonia and to provide key takeaways and recommendations for the establishment of greater citizens-centricity, responsiveness, accessibility, accountability, and efficiency.  These are among the key elements of the country’s full compliance with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and will allow the successful start of the EU association journey.

One of our central recommendations at the end of this study is the full digitalization of the administrative procedure. However, unless the notion of good admin­istration is aligned with the principles of the European Charter that are covered by negotiating chapter 23, dig­italization alone will not serve the purpose. Our main claim here is that the prevailing notion of “good admin­istration” among the policy-makers in the country must be discarded and replaced with that of citizen-centred, efficient administration in line with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and its value system.