THE RULE OF LAW AND THE PRESPA AGREEMENT

TWO ONE-WAY STREETS?

Abstract

The principle of the rule of law has progressively become a dominant organizational model in
the modern national and international constitutional law as well as in the national states and
international organizations to regulate the exercise of their public powers. The rule of law has
been proclaimed as one of the three intertwined and partly overlapping core principles of the
Council of Europe and the EU, together with the democracy and the human rights. This close
relationship between the rule of law and the democratic society has been underlined by the
European Court of Human Rights through different expressions: “democratic society subscribing
to the rule of law”, “democratic society based on the rule of law” and, more systematically,
“Rule of law in a democratic society”.
Having in mind the importance of the principle of the rule of law in the Macedonian society and
state, this paper will give a detailed overview of the European standards related to the principle
in general, on one side, and violations against it in the current Macedonian political and
constitutional system.
The paper will analyze in depth the legal anomalies that occurred during the process of
negotiating and concluding the so-called Prespa Agreement between the Greek and the
Macedonian national authorities, as well as the negative implications that the Agreement has
caused in context of respecting the principle of the rule of law.
The paper will explain all infringements of the national and international law enacted by the
Agreement and the possible solutions for their overcoming. The EU and the UN international
documents and laws stipulate a sanction in case when certain bilateral or international problem is
trying to be solved with bad intentions, meaning through direct violation of the basic rules and
principles of the international law and of the jus cogens norms.