Parliament passes amendments to the Law on Administrative Servants: a rating of “1” two years in a row ends employment

On October 19, during the continuation of its 125th session, Parliament passed under a shortened procedure the amendments to the Law on Administrative Servants. According to the report, the most important change is the abolition of the option to promote administrative servants without a public internal call. The government says this ensures equal access and consistent application of the merit system.

The second important change concerns appraisal. Administrative servants who receive the lowest rating (“1 – unsatisfactory”) two years in a row will lose their employment by operation of law, and the right of appeal remains. That is a strict rule, whose real application will depend on how ratings are assigned, which the law does not change to the same degree.

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The amendments also clarify who may represent the Agency in administrative and court proceedings, set deadlines for delivering acts, remove overlapping procedures and require transparent publication of final results. They also regulate disciplinary and material liability, and align the status of servants in the Assembly and regulatory bodies with that of other special state servants. Application of Article 80 is postponed to January 1, 2028, and pay for certain categories will be regulated by special laws.

What is disputed? The opposition SDSM did not vote for the amendments. Group coordinator Oliver Spasovski said the law disciplines the administration, including the Assembly service, and that the government pursues its goals in a “veiled” way, which he presented as political pressure. SDSM says VMRO-DPMNE previously removed the independence of the Assembly service and is now restoring it. Spasovski says the service was independent until 2024 and that the security of the Assembly should also be independent. Other opposition MPs had remarks on the provisions on sanctioning.

From the majority's position, VMRO-DPMNE group coordinator Nikola Micevski said some provisions are good and others are not, and that the changes remove shortcomings that were not fixed in 2019. He blamed the SDSM government of 2019 to 2024 for not fixing them, and told Spasovski, as a former interior minister, that he could have helped with the reform of the Assembly's security.

The report gives no vote count, nor how other parties voted, so I cannot say by what majority the law was passed. It also does not say how many servants are covered, or how many of them received the lowest rating this year.

What is not known? It is not known how many servants could lose their employment under the two-rating-“1” rule, or how it will be applied in practice. Nor is it known when the law enters into force and whether the Constitutional Court will be involved. It is unclear how appraisal will be made objective.

What does it mean? The law tightens the rules for both promotion and dismissal in the administration. Whether it brings more merit or more pressure will depend on how it is applied, not on the text itself.

MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 23, 2026