Constitutional Court Suspends Government Decisions for Salary Cuts

The Constitutional Court of Macedonia decided at a session on Tuesday to temporary suspend the governmental decision for cutting of salaries of judges, prosecutors, MPs and other employees in state institutions in favour of gathering funds for dealing with the COVID-19 situation. The government adopted this regulation in order to save more budget funds for measures against COVID-19, and decided that all state employees will receive minimum wage of 14,500 denars for the months of April and May. From the Constitutional Court they inform that the regulation will be suspended until the Court reaches a final decision about an initiative filed by the Association of Judges of Macedonia. This means that all state officials and employees will be paid their normal salaries during the period of state of emergency. The Government of Macedonia issued an official reaction to the decision of the Constitutional Court. “The initiated procedure by the Constitutional Court over annulment of the decree to cut the salaries of over 2,000 officials, MPs, judges, prosecutors and directors to a minimum wage of 14,500 denars in April and May is detrimental to solidarity in the country. The Constitutional Court’s decision directly prevents the allocation of about 240 million denars (4 million euros) in the Budget, which are used in the COVID-19 preventive efforts. This is a scandalous decision on behalf of the Constitutional Court that jeopardises the fight against the coronavirus,” writes the governmental reaction.