Agency reports 438 of 623 complaints in 2025 about institutional silence

The Agency for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information reported that out of 623 complaints it processed in 2025, 438 — nearly 70 percent — concerned institutions failing to act or remaining silent past legally set deadlines. Director Petar Gajdov presented those findings to the Parliamentary Commission on Political System and Inter‑Community Relations as part of the agency's 2025 annual report.

Gajdov told lawmakers that the agency handled every submitted complaint last year within the legal timeframes and worked to secure consistent application of the right of access to public information. He also noted the agency expanded its outreach: it ran nine free training sessions for officials on the law, proactive transparency and use of the electronic portal for processing requests, and kept cooperating with civil society while participating in regional and international forums.

Key figures from the report

The agency provided a breakdown of who filed the complaints and other statistics:

• Total complaints processed in 2025: 623.
• Complaints about non-action or silence: 438 (about 70%).
• By complainant type: 344 individuals; 194 non‑governmental organizations, associations and foundations; 51 legal entities; 34 journalists and journalist associations.

"Freedom of access to public information functions as a preventive tool in the fight against corruption by strengthening institutional transparency, accountability and responsibility," Gajdov said.

During debate on the report, SDSM MP Oliver Spasovski questioned Gajdov's credibility. Spasovski alleged that when Gajdov was hired by the institution in 2021 he had been registered as a member of the Albanian ethnic community but later, in his application for the director post, submitted a statement that he belongs to the Macedonian people — a change Spasovski said raises questions about the reliability of data used for certain rights and promotions within the agency.

Spasovski also criticised the agency's misdemeanour commission for procedures that took place while Gajdov chaired it. He pointed to a case involving the government's current spokesperson, Marija Miteva, who at the time served as the information liaison for VMRO‑DPMNE, and said there are inconsistencies in the case file: a commission session record appears to have been drawn up before the notice was sent to the person under proceedings. He argued such anomalies undermine trust in the institution and in the figures presented in the annual report, stressing that transparency and integrity are particularly important for the body charged with protecting access to public information.

Photo: press material from the event