Academy without students, judiciary without new judges — the ninth generation failed

The Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors has not been admitting new trainees since the beginning of 2025, after the process for the ninth generation was blocked and then annulled, leaving gaps in personnel that are already insufficient for the needs of the judiciary.

The admission of 130 future judges and public prosecutors was put on hold as early as 2023 by a decision of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Government stopped the unfinished recruitment procedures and the budget line for those 130 positions disappeared.

“— After the annulment of the public advertisement for admission to the initial training at the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 19/23, by decision no. 02-428/4 of 25.12.2025 of the Management Board of the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors, a new public advertisement for admission of a new generation of trainees to the initial training has not been published — say the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors.”

Reasons and next steps

The Academy explains that there were technical and legal obstacles in the process: the public advertisement was published in January 2023, and the new director Irina Trajkoska-Strezoski was appointed in October 2024. Difficulties arose during the examinations with electronic testing due to the expiration of the software contract, which required an amendment to the legal framework in order to hold the test in paper form. The procedure was put on hold during the period of the presidential elections, a decision confirmed by the Administrative Court and the Higher Administrative Court, and after the elections the Ministry of Finance responded that financial means were not provided.

“— We expect that for the next year, 2027, the Ministry of Finance will provide financial means for a new generation of trainees in the initial training — they add.”

The Management Board of the Academy adopted the decision to annul the public advertisement on December 25, 2025. The Academy warns that the annulment carries legal consequences and that there is no legal basis for recognizing passed exams if a new advertisement is announced.

Both the European Commission and the State Audit Office point out the problems: in July, in a report on the rule of law, it was stated that “However, since there is currently no training of new judges and prosecutors, new judicial candidates will not be available before 2028.”

Statistics and signals from the system already show a pronounced deficit: former Minister of Justice Igor Filkov indicated that only 67 percent of judicial positions are filled, meaning more than 200 judges are missing, while the court administration operates with only 36 percent staffing. The President of the Judicial Council, Aleksandar Kambovski, warned that “In conditions where judges and administrative staff are missing, the end result is what you heard. We have a real problem in the basic courts, and when we promote judges to higher courts, we empty the basic ones, and we have nothing to replace them with,” and he called for an urgent resumption of training to fill the personnel pipeline.

As a way out, the Academy has undertaken activities to amend and supplement the existing law and has prepared a new draft law that is in government procedure; they say they expect the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia to adopt the new law in the near future, after which the Management Board could publish a new public advertisement.

Photo: Arhiva na