EC Report in Numbers: Public Administration Reform Is 67 Percent Implemented, Public Finance Reform 47 Percent, and Courts Get 0.29 Percent of GDP

Skopje – In a report of over a hundred pages the headlines carry the ratings, and the real story often hides in the numbers beneath them. The European Commission’s 2026 report on North Macedonia has dozens of such numbers. We single out those that show where reforms are moving and where they lag.

Administration and public finances. The Public Administration Reform Strategy was 67 percent implemented in 2025, while the Public Financial Management Reform Programme was 47 percent implemented. The percentage shows how many of the planned activities are completed, not what results they produced. Almost two thirds of all measures are funded by donors. E-services reached 338 by the end of August 2026, and 44 institutions use an electronic archive.

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The courts’ budget. “The budget allocated to the courts in 2026 was 0.29 percent of GDP,” the report says, against 0.8 percent set by law. That is about 36 percent of the legal minimum, by the editorial calculation, and is lower than the previous year. The Public Prosecutor’s Office receives 0.24 percent of the state budget, against the legally required 0.4 percent, or about 60 percent of the minimum.

The people in the courts. Only 38 percent of the estimated posts in the courts are filled. 221 new judges and 67 public prosecutors are needed. In 2025, 35 judges and public prosecutors opted to extend their service until the age of 67. The clearance rate is below 100 percent for nearly all first and second instance cases, which means fewer cases are closed than are opened.

Strategy and mediation. Implementation of the judiciary strategy increased to 56.9 percent in 2025. There are approximately 2.5 mediators per 100,000 inhabitants, against a regional average of 6. The largest ever recruitment procedure for the academy, with 130 candidates, was annulled.

Fight against corruption. Of the planned activities of the 2021–2025 prevention strategy only 23 percent were fully implemented, up from 18 percent. Only one lobbyist and three lobbying organisations are registered in the lobbying register. The coordination body has not officially met since its constitutive session in April 2025.

Media and rights. In 2025 five cases of violations of journalists’ rights were recorded and 40 lawsuits for insult and defamation against journalists, against 15 in 2024, or about 2.7 times more by the editorial calculation. The discrimination commission handled 559 cases, and the personal data protection agency has only seven staff.

Budget law. The entry into force of the organic budget law has been postponed to January 2028.

Together, the figures paint a mixed picture: the administration is closer to completion, while public finances, court budgets and anti-corruption measures are behind plan. The implementation rate of the anti-corruption strategy is rising, from 18 to 23 percent, and that of the judiciary strategy reached 56.9 percent. It is a process under way, not a standstill. The formal condition for negotiations, however, remains the constitutional changes from the 2022 Council conclusions.

MKNews Hub · Macedonia · November 6, 2026