Thewesternbalkans.
In early November 2026, the issue of taking the law examination in the Macedonian language became a major political flashpoint in the Republic of North Macedonia, following an initiative by Albanian political formations to allow the exam to be conducted in Albanian as well. The topic sparked tension within the ruling coalition – the leading party VMRO-DPMNE, its partner the ZNAM movement, and the Albanian party VLEN – and drew sharp reactions from the Albanian opposition.
The escalation was triggered by a scheduled examination session for law students, during which, under current legislation, the law exam is administered exclusively in Macedonian. Albanian law students, opposition parties – the Democratic Union for Integration and the Alliance for Albanians – as well as the VLEN party (part of the ruling majority), insisted that students completing their law studies should be permitted to take the exam in their native language.
This prompted a strong response from Maksim Dimitrievski, leader of the ZNAM movement and a coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE. He declared that his party categorically opposes conducting the exam in any language other than Macedonian, and threatened that the movement would withdraw from the ruling coalition should the government adopt such a change.
On November 9 of this year the Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski stated that the exam would not be permitted to be taken entirely in the Albanian language. He supported a compromise under which the theoretical part of the exam could be taken in the candidate’s native language, while the practical part – a simulated court proceeding – would remain exclusively and mandatorily in Macedonian. To defuse tension within the ruling coalition and among Albanian students, the Ministry of Justice (headed by Jeton Shasivari of the VLEN) drafted a bill, which was approved by the government on November 10. The bill proposes a two-stage model for the law qualification exam. Students who have completed their law education in a language other than Macedonian – as the educational system of the Republic of North Macedonia allows for instruction in Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, or English – would be permitted to take the theoretical part of the exam in the language in which they received their education. However, the practical part, which involves a simulated court proceeding (criminal or civil), must be conducted exclusively in Macedonian, as it is defined as the official language for communication and the administration of justice within the judicial system. With a view to obtaining an independent international expert assessment regarding the compliance of the proposed model with the country’s Constitution and European legal standards, the draft law adopted by the government was submitted to the Venice Commission for review.
Comment:
The relations between the two main communities in the Republic of North Macedonia c- the Macedonian and the Albanian – were regulated by the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which brought an end to the ethnic armed conflict in 2001. Amendments to the country’s Constitution in November 2001 guaranteed the fundamental rights of the Albanian community, including the decentralization of local self-government, proportional representation in the public sector and state institutions, and the right to the official use of the Albanian language in municipalities where Albanians constitute more than 20% of the population, among others.
However, the Law on the Use of Languages in the Republic of North Macedonia, adopted in 2019, remains one of the most debated and politically sensitive legal acts in the country. It regulates the official use of languages within state institutions, the judiciary, local self-government, and the administration. The demands by the Albanian community to conduct the legal examination entirely in the Albanian language represent a call for broader use of their mother language. They go beyond the provisions of the legislation of the Republic of North Macedonia and contradict a previous opinion of the Venice Commission on the administration of justice in the country. In this context, it is unlikely that the Venice Commission will fully endorse the government’s proposal. Should the Commission reject it, or grant only partial approval with recommendations for further refinement, the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE will likely use this as an argument to maintain the status quo. However, this would fail to satisfy the demands of the Albanian parties and would further deepen the emerging new divide within Macedonia’s multi-ethnic society.
