The initiative to conduct the jurisprudence exam in the Albanian language has unified the student parliaments from the three Albanian universities in North Macedonia, reports Gazeta Express from Portalb.mk.
"The purpose of this meeting was to formalize unification, mobilize students on the issue of the jurisprudence exam, and discuss issues of interest to students and joint coordination," stated one of the initiators, Mevlan Ademi.
The meeting took place today at the University of Tetova, where in addition to the Student Parliament from this university, the Student Parliaments from the South East European University and the "Mother Teresa" University also participated.
"The meeting was considered an important step towards strengthening student cooperation and stronger representation of the interests of Albanian students in the country," declared Ademi, informing that the meeting was attended by the presidents of the three student parliaments.
Otherwise, Albanian law students in North Macedonia have warned of protests on February 26 if it is not possible for the jurisprudence exam to be held in the Albanian language.
The Ministry of Justice, headed by Igor Fillov, continues to insist that the jurisprudence exam cannot be held in Albanian, despite the Law on the Use of Languages.
The Ministry of Justice had previously stated that it would not change its position that the exam cannot be held in Albanian. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, although he had stated that students should be able to take the exam in Albanian, later said that the current law does not allow the jurisprudence exam in Albanian and that he is ready to regulate it, but the decision will be made by the Venice Commission. On March 4, he promised in the Parliament that legal changes would be made so that the exam could also be held in Albanian.
In the meantime, the Ombudsman has opened a case on this matter, while the Inspectorate for the Use of Languages conducted an extraordinary inspection, where they are expected to come up with their findings.
Meanwhile, experts and civil society assess that the Albanian exam does not pose a risk and should reflect the demographic reality.
A bill that would enable the jurisprudence exam to be taken in Albanian was ready in 2024 by the Ministry of Justice, but with the change in parliamentary composition and the new government, it was removed from the assembly agenda and was not mentioned at all by the current government.
There is no legal provision in the Law on the Bar Examination stating that this exam can only be held in the Macedonian language.
Meanwhile, Article 2 of the Law on the Use of Languages states that "state government institutions must enable the use of other official languages spoken by at least 20% of citizens", which is the Albanian language.
Article 2 and Article 5 of this law state that “institutions are obliged to enable the use of the Albanian language in all procedures before courts and other state bodies.” This means that if the law on the bar exam does not limit the administration of this exam only in the Macedonian language, it should also be enabled in the Albanian language.
The Law on the Implementation of Languages came into force in 2019, since then four justice ministers have been replaced, namely Bojan Maričić, Nikola Tupančevski, Krenar Lloga and currently Igor Filkov. In previous years, even when there was no Albanian minister, the deputy minister was of Albanian origin.
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