EU Delegation Expresses Serious Concern over Public Procurement Law Draft-Changes

The EU Delegation has told RFE Macedonian it has expressed serious concern before representatives of North Macedonia’s Government over the draft-changes to the Public Procurement Law.

The Delegation finds several aspects of the text problematic, with the most concerning one being the issue of elimination of administrative controls and announced dismissal of all members of the State Appeals Commission.

“The Delegation has also expressed doubts over how the current changes will concern the recommendations highlighted in the European Commission’s last Report on the country. Namely, to increase the use of most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) criteria for the award of contracts, adopt a public-private partnership (PPP) law, and improve coordination among key stakeholders to fight corruption”, it points out.

The Delegation adds it is closely following events related to the draft-changes. The Draft-Law had been initially submitted to Parliament in the shortened procedure.

However, as a result of reactions from, among others, the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC), Platform of Civil Society Organisations for Fight against Corruption, and SDSM leader Venko Filipce, it was resubmitted in the regular procedure, without changes to its essence.

VMRO-DPMNE MP Antonijo Milososki, in December, said the only goal of the draft-changes was to improve efficiency by preventing the competences of the Public Procurement Bureau and Commission from overlapping, that is, to increase the former’s efficiency at the start of the procedure itself, when there were certain greater public procurement processes.

“The Appeals Commission will be the final instance for legal protection”, he added. Milososki is one of the submitters of the draft-changes, together with fellow VMRO-DPMNE MPs Bojan Stojanoski, Aleksandar Jamalov, Dragana Bojkovska, Igor Zdravkovski, Zoranco Jovancev, and Ljupco Prendzov.