REFORMS IN THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA, INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REFORM PROCESS

The issue to be addressed within this work is the reforms in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Police of the Republic of Macedonia adopted and approved during the last decade. Reforms in the MIA and the police represent the main criterion of the country's integration into the European Union, at the same time; enable the return of citizens' confidence to the MIA and the police as well as the creation of a guarantee for the country's internal security. The vision of acceptance of European values, norms and police services in Macedonia emerged shortly after the declaration of independence of RM in the year 1991. After peaceful independence, the RM proved its commitment to the establishment and organization of efficient and accountable state institutions. In order to achieve this, the MIA should include the police, to be transformed from a state police into a service police (closer citizens). However, the most substantial efforts to reform the MIA were developed at the beginning of the new century when the state formally started the process of EU integration. As international partners, in cooperation with local authorities, were specifically engaged in creating a strategy for reform in the MIA and the police, with the aim of implementing a community policing model and instigating democratic values in the police. Direct support for this process was provided by the European Commission Mission in Justice and Ministry of Internal Affairs in Macedonia ( ECJHAT). This mission was intended to assist local authorities in the creation of the Strategy for Reforms of the Most Sensitive Part of the State apparatus. Therefore, EU experts were directly involved in the task force established by the MIA with the task to prepare the Police Reform Strategy, which was approved by the Government of Macedonia in August 2003, as well as the Action Plan for its implementation adopted in December 2004. The EITC mission lasted for 18 months and ended at the end of 2003 but a new instrument EC as a policing reform supporter called the Police Reform Project (ECPRP), which was intended to provide guidance on the implementation of the reform process. Some of the standards set out in the Police Reform Strategy have been amended in accordance with the Ohrid Agreement on equal representation of all ethnic communities, in particular the representation of Albanians in the MIA. Also, the manner of electing Commanders of Police in Municipalities, where in line with the OFA, the local police leaders are elected by the municipal councils, based on lists proposed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Prior to the start of the reform, the MIA and the police of the Republic of Macedonia were a highly centralized organization and had to decentralize or delegate some competencies to the local government by decentralizing decision-making and accountability. In fact, this was and is difficult to achieve because it alongside the formal legal changes requires the change of thinking to officials and policemen. And this Working Group ECJHAT acknowledges that "it is easier to build an organization from beginning rather than fully reorganizing a functional organization.