The Government still hasn’t received the ruling of the Administrative Court on the lawsuit by the former concessionaire of the mines in Ilovica and Shtuka, even though it was accepted by the end of March.
“The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia still hasn’t received any official document about the Administrative Court’s ruling in favor of the former concessionaire Euromax Resources – Skopje, replied the Government’s press service to Meta.mk’s question whether the state will complain the Court’s decision.
“As soon as the decision arrives, the Government will reply within the legally determined time limits” announced the Government.
Last week, the public first heard of the Administrative Court’s ruling, which turned the company’s request for a permit for exploration of ore to retrial.
This request was rejected by the Second Degree Government Commission on the ground of unmet conditions and the Ministry of Economy unilaterally terminated the agreement for concession.
The Court’s decision was kept secret from 31st of March until the middle of May when the Canadian company announced the news on its web site. With the general public’s reaction, the Court speedily issued several press release on the 13th and 14th of May, both signed by the Court’s President, Burim Sejdini.
With the first press release, the Court briefly informed that a decision as previously described was made, while the second press release described the “urgent character” of this case as the decision had to made during a state of emergency.
The Court also stressed that the Euromax’ argument is that the Second Degree Government Committee before rejecting the request for licence for exploitation of ore was supposed to wait for the Government’s decision upon previously submitted request for merging of both concessions that Euromax had.
The deadline for appealing this decision will start when the state of emergency ends.
Despite the fact that the Administrative Court officially informed it had regularly sent its ruling to both parties in this dispute, both the Government and the Ministry of Economy state they still didn’t receive it.
The Government states that, in accordance with the information that the Ministry of Economy presented to the Government, it was determined that the company didn’t submit all of the necessary documents that are requested according to the Law on Mineral Resources. This is necessary in order to be granted an approval for exploitation.
“This is what contributed to the fact that all conditions for termination of the concession have been met. The decision for meeting the conditions for termination of the concession will be effective when the appealing procedure ends, in accordance with the Republic of North Macedonia’s legal regulations” said the Government.
The Activists from Strumica are surprised and embittered by Court’s ruling. They said they aren’t surprised why it takes so long for the decision to reach the Government.
“It seems it is very far away and we managed to find this ruling located in the Canadian Government’s official server, and we weren’t informed by competent authorities in our own country. as it should have happened” said the representative of the “Zdrava Kotlina” association Gjorgji Tanushev for Meta.mk.
He stresses that the decision of the Administrative Court states that Macedonia’s legal representatives in this dispute have submitted only the requested documents, but even though the judge has requested for more, they didn’t provide the necessary explanations.
The activists from Strumica stress that they have unconfirmed information about conflicts of interest in the Ministry of Economy.
“We shall react fiercely. Our organization together with the citizens and the remaining organizations in Southeastern Macedonia will react. We shallnot allow corrupt judges and politicians to poison us for profits” said decisively Tanushev.
