On 30.05.2024 in the premises of MANU, a meeting of the Platform for Environmental Justice was held, where representatives from the Center for Legal Research and Analysis, ECO-SVEST, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mileukontakt, the Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers, MANU, the Academy of judges and public prosecutors, the State Environmental Inspectorate and the Ministry of Justice.
Academician Vlado Kambovski made a brief review of the activities of the past period and thanked them for the opportunity to be the current president of the Platform. After his welcoming address, he called on those present to vote for the election of the next president of the Platform, and Nikola Jovanovski from the Center for Legal Research and Analysis was unanimously elected. Bojan Trpevski from the Macedonian Association of Young Lawyers was also unanimously elected Deputy President of the Platform.
In the continuation of the meeting, they talked about current topics in the field of the environment. Nikola Prokopenko from the Ministry of Justice presented the news regarding international standards related to crimes in the environment and the latest EU directive on environmental protection in criminal law and the need for compliance with the directive. The Convention for the protection of the environment through criminal law, which is currently being worked on within the framework of the Council of Europe, is also a novelty.
The lawyer Zharko Hadji Zafirov also had his address, who spoke about the proceedings before the Administrative Court of RNM regarding air quality. In the lawsuit itself, the responsibility of the state authorities is demanded due to the failure to adopt measures for adequate air quality.
After the presentations of Prokopenko and Hadji Zafirov, a discussion took place where representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs – inspectors shared some of their problems and challenges in their work when the environment is in question. Darko Blinkov from DIŽS spoke about the challenges they face, and he also introduced Manuel Salgado Blanco – an environmental inspector from Spain who is currently on exchange at DIŽS to share his experience with the inspectors in our institutions.