The Buzz in North Macedonia: Interview with Dejvi Davidovski of Trpenoski

The Buzz in North Macedonia: Interview with Dejvi Davidovski of Trpenoski

North Macedonia
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Political stalemate and a prolonged election period are holding North Macedonia in a lock, preventing major legislative and business moves, according to Trpenoski Partner Dejvi Davidovski.

Describing the political atmosphere in North Macedonia, Davidovski highlights the recently held local elections. “Given the fact that the Parliament has adjourned, seeing as how it’s election period, no major changes or updates to the legislative framework came to be,” he says “so the local elections were closely followed.” 

Davidovski reports that the local elections resulted in no changes in the political power split and that this caused the opposition parties to raise their voices. “The opposition parties ended up in the same position in which they were before and they raised questions of legitimacy of the election process as well as regarding the position of the ruling parliamentary majority and the government, especially since the Prime Minister had already announced that he will resign,” Davidovski says. “At the moment, the political situation is uncertain, since it is still unclear whether the government will retain its Parliament majority or not, and, consequently, whether the opposition will have the opportunity to elect a new government or we're to have snap elections.”

With the Parliament in adjournment, Davidovski reports that a “number of reform laws and major amendments and updates to laws are stuck in parliamentary procedure processes. These would have an impact on both the practice of law and doing business,” but their fate remains uncertain until the election period ends and a new parliamentary majority is established.

The political situation has had, as Davidovski says, a negative impact on both society in general and on doing business in North Macedonia, “due to the great influence of politics and political parties in Macedonian society.”

Furthermore, Davidovski reports that “many business sectors are experiencing downward trends overall, due to the pandemic, but the last couple of months have seen some increase in corporate profits.” He says that this change for the better is expected to continue, at least until the end of the year. “The most active sectors are the financial and pharmaceutical sectors, where there is visible growth. Still, this growth is not accompanied by growth in the real sector,” Davidovski reports. “Additionally, in the past few months, no major projects have been announced or implemented, again, due to the country being stuck in the election period,” Davidovski concludes.