The Constitutional Court of North Macedonia is expected to decide today whether the law regulating the “Safe City” monitoring system is in accordance with the Constitution. Four cases have been filed in the said Court regarding the legality of the system in question.
Constitutional judge, Ana Pavlovska Daneva, confirmed that the institution has received three different initiatives challenging this system:
Alliance for Albanians (Arben Taravar's wing);
Alliance for Albanians (Ziadin Sela's wing);
An initiative by a student of the Faculty of Law.
All three of these requests have been merged into a single case, which will be considered as the main item on the agenda.
The "Safe City" system, which envisages monitoring through high-tech cameras in public places, has raised concerns regarding the protection of personal data, the right to privacy, and freedom of movement.
Wednesday’s decision will determine whether the cameras will continue to monitor the city’s streets or whether the system will have to be suspended or radically changed, although the president of the Constitutional Court, Darko Kostadinovski, in February, despite his position as president of a high court that has yet to rule on appeals challenging the system, was full of praise for the project. Commenting on the system, which has only been in operation for a little over a month, Kostadinovski said it “has shown that our mentality can change very quickly, that is, adapt to the rules.”
We recall that with the amendments to the Law on Minor Offenses, this system in the RMV entered into force on February 1, 2026. In the first phase, it is being implemented in Skopje, Tetovo, Kumanovo and Corridors 8 and 10, while there are plans to establish it in Struga and Ohrid as well. The law was appealed to the Constitutional Court by the Albanian opposition, stating that it has many shortcomings. Also, citizens in an online survey by Portalb.mk expressed concern about the shortcomings of the system.
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