Levica: VMRO‑DPMNE places allies on Civil Oversight Council
Levica says two candidates proposed to the Council have party and family ties, while European Commission found the body non‑functional since 2018.
Levica has accused VMRO‑DPMNE of trying to take control of the body tasked with civilian oversight of secret services, saying the ruling party is replacing independent scrutiny with partisan influence.
Opposition warns of partisan picks
According to Levica, MP Mile Lefkov proposed that the parliamentary Committee on Election and Appointments endorse Andon Damovski, a social worker, and Gordana Stefkovska‑Veljanovska, a psychologist, as members of the Council for Civil Oversight. The party points out that Stefkovska‑Veljanovska is the wife of Robert Veljanovski, director of the Drama Theatre and a former member of VMRO‑DPMNE's executive committee.
Levica also says five other candidates with backgrounds in law and security studies were not supported by the committee. The party called the move an attempt by VMRO‑DPMNE to "establish control over the controllers," while true civilian oversight, it said, has long been only a dead letter on paper.
Levica cited the European Commission's finding that the Council for Civil Oversight has not functioned since its legal creation in 2018. The party added that in 2025 the parliamentary Committee for Oversight of Interception of Communications did not carry out any surveillance oversight of the authorized bodies, operators or the Operational‑Technical Agency.
The statement underlined that eight years of a non‑functional civilian mechanism and a full year without direct parliamentary oversight coincide with the Government under Hristijan Mickoski announcing a new reshaping of the security‑intelligence sector, at the same time as the European Commission warns of insufficient independence and institutional weaknesses in the oversight system.
Photo: press material from the event
