New anti‑corruption strategy stalled in Parliament; lawmakers urged to police the government
Draft sent to the Assembly on June 19 but left unreviewed before the summer break; the strategy urges Parliament to monitor how the executive implements anti‑corruption measures.
On June 19 the draft National Strategy for Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest 2026–2030 was submitted to the Assembly, but MPs did not discuss or vote on it before the summer recess, leaving the country without an active anti‑corruption roadmap.
The strategy highlights public procurement as the main horizontal area of risk and calls for openness and transparency when drafting laws for strategic projects. Nevertheless, after the document was received, a group of ruling‑party MPs proposed a separate Law for Skopje 2028 that would be exempt from the Law on Public Procurement, a move the strategy warns should be handled differently.
Instead of ad hoc exemptions, the draft recommends that such exceptions be regulated through a new Law on Capital Investments with a transparent process and publicly published documentation — not hidden as trade secrets as has happened in projects such as Corridors 8 and 10 or the Kicevo–Ohrid road. The strategy also stresses the need for effective supervision of large projects and points to a deliberate pattern in which authorities avoid proper oversight by failing to allocate sufficient funds for supervision.
What the strategy says about oversight
"Although by law oversight of the implementation of public investments is obligatory, this oversight is dysfunctional due to political interference and other influences. The first problem is that during the budgeting of public investments appropriate funds for supervision are not planned, which calls into question the quality of the supervision itself. Very often, although supervision will reveal shortcomings in the implementation of public investments, no measures are taken to rectify those shortcomings, states the National Strategy for Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest 2026–2030."
Public procurement remains the area most prone to abuse — through rigging, collusion and manipulation of electronic auctions — and the strategy recommends tightening the Criminal Code to strengthen enforcement. Observers warned that the strategy must not remain merely a written document without follow‑through.
The State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (DKSK) goes further: through the strategy it asks the Assembly not only to adopt the document but to exercise real political control over the executive and monitor how the government implements the measures.
"In practice, the Assembly relatively rarely uses its oversight function compared to its regulatory role, which results in the absence of political control over the executive. This is best seen in the implementation of the National Strategy for Prevention of Corruption 2021–2025, which has a relatively low rate of implementation of measures and activities that were largely assigned to executive authorities, while the Assembly did not undertake actions within its oversight function, the National Strategy for Prevention of Corruption and Conflict of Interest 2026–2030 states."
The previous national strategy expired last year. The new plan, when adopted, would run through 2030 and—among other proposals—DKSK suggests the state should develop AI tools to assist in the fight against corruption.
By Miomir Serafinović
Photo: press material from the event
