Civil organizations “O2 Inicijativa” (O2 Initiative), “Eko-svest” (Eco- Consciousness,) and the World Wide Fund for Nature called the president of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski to reject signing the Law on legalization of illegally constructed buildings and to return it to the Parliament. The environmentalists, supported by other 22 civil society organizations, are requesting that the law should be adopted in a regular procedure and public debates to be held.
Eco-Consciousness and the World Wide Fund for Nature issued a press release where they state that the Law opposes the Constitution especially with two of the basic values stated in Article 8, the rule of law and the arranging and humanization of the space and the protection of the living environment and nature.
The O2 Initiative stressed that such law, where even its title states that the illegal becomes legal, mustn’t be adopted at all in a democratic country that strives toward the rule of law. With it, they stressed, the legal enactments of numerous laws will be nullified, such as the Law on Constructio, the Law on Urban Planning, the Law on the Protection of Nature, the Law on Waters, the Law on Protection of the Cultural Heritage, the Crime Code, the spatial and urban plans, etc.
“This law will motivate all of those who have been usurping the lands for years and all law-abiding citizens who obey all laws and regulations will be demotivated. This law will obstruct all procedures that are determining the influence of illegally constructed buildings on the living environment and it allows legalization of buildings in protected zones and areas. This law was adopted by fast-track” procedure and without a public debate even though the consequences are enormous both on the rule of law and the living environment,” O2 Initiative informs.
