I. Subject of the study
II. Research objective
III. Need of this research
IV. Concrete goals
V. Research contents General characteristic in the development of a modern state is the increased importance of the role of its executive authorities, with special emphasis on the relation between the citizens and the public administration. The increased intensity of these relations that most often does not depend on the will of the citizens increases the possibilities of infringement of their rights and legally based interests. In order to ensure rule of law, responsibility and efficiency of administrative authorities and public services, it is necessary to establish permanent control, implying restriction of overstepping and abuse by these authorities. I. Subject of the study
The need to design a new role of the administrative authorities both from the present legislature and de lege ferenda, determines the subject of my study to be defining legal instruments, means and procedures to protect citizens' rights before higher instances, in order to provide legality of the concrete administrative acts.
The main problem facing the Republic of Macedonia and other countries in the region, such as Serbia and Montenegro regarding this subject, is of normative character. Unfortunately, more than a decade after it became independent, Republic of Macedonia has not enacted the Law on General Administrative Procedure and the Law on Administrative Disputes, so that the Law on Administrative Disputes from 1977 is still effective (SFRY Official Gazette, No. 4/77, with an amendment made in SFRY Official Gazette, No. 36/77).
In my research, I would like to pay special attention to the legal institution which is new for this region, but present in the legal systems of almost all democratic countries – the administrative judiciary. Rather than just a "fad" (conforming to the "new" solutions in Western democratic legal systems), the possible introduction of administrative judiciary in the Macedonian legal system is a real necessity in order to achieve the newly established role of administration in the government system. II. Research objective
The primary research objective would be giving concrete suggestions for legal projects that will accurately determine the number and types of legal means (regular and special) for internal control of legality of specific administrative acts, as well as introducing a completely new system of (external) judiciary control over the administration, closer to the European/continental model. As a special instrument to protect citizens against maladministration, the institution of ombudsman will be established, followed by necessary modifications regarding the Law on Public Attorney/Ombudsman, towards better efficiency of this institution.
The research will have attained its goal if its conclusions are used as a solid base for production of new or revised Law on General Administrative Procedure, Law on Administrative Disputes and Law on Public Attorney/Ombudsman (the preparation of which is in progress). To attain this goal it is not enough just to make serious scientific analysis and to develop a good quality policy paper. It is essential that relevant factors (the Government as a proposer and the Assembly as a legislative body) show political will to make changes. III. Need of this research
This subject is justified by the actual state not only in the Republic of Macedonia, but also in the neighboring countries, characterized by severe and frequent violations of citizens' rights as a result of insufficient control over the public administration activities.
First of all, the very fact that jurisdiction, manner and procedure of administrative disputes arbitration in Macedonia was regulated in 1977, imposes the need to take urgent measures towards enactment of new legal provisions that provide new solutions for these issues, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia.
It is undisputed fact that the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia is exceptionally overloaded, with many cases of administrative character, that exceeds the possibilities for its efficient functioning and therefore Macedonian citizens are faced with the problem of belated decisions of their administrative cases, with onerous, slow and expensive administrative judicial procedures.
All of this leads to the general conclusion about the inefficiency of competent authorities in the arbitration of administrative disputes in the Republic of Macedonia. This statement can be illustrated with statistical data, according to which, the period between the moment of bringing charges before the Supreme Court to the beginning of deciding upon it is two to three years. Does this way of working provide real judicial protection of citizens' rights vis-ŕ-vis public administration? What kind of judicial control over the administration is it if performed three years after the illicit actions? After all, it is true that for the citizen – belated justice is the worst of injustice!
The purpose of judicial control is to protect citizens’ rights against the administration. Therefore, an independent organ is established to regulate administrative conflicts. The modes of judicial control are different, depending on whether there is specialized administrative judiciary (for example, in France) or the control is performed by the regular courts (for example, in England). In accordance with the Court Law and the Constitution of 1991, the competent organ for deciding upon administrative disputes in the Republic of Macedonia is the Supreme Court. It is the highest court in RM, court of general jurisdiction, which includes administrative office in charge of administrative disputes. Regarding the competence for administrative-judicial control, the Administrative Disputes Law does not uphold either of the above mentioned models – the continental or Anglo-Saxon, combining the two systems.
An alternative for the reported situation is development of new legal solutions that would: - 1 Specify authorities able to decide upon appeals;
- 2 Reduce the number of special legal expedients in administrative procedures;
- 3 Enable establishing a specialized Administrative Court that would have administrative-judicial control over concrete acts of administrative authorities, in accordance with the changes taking place in the Macedonian political system.
That would bring about narrow specialization of the judges who will only be dealing with administrative issues. IV. Concrete goals
Proceeding from my scientific concern and the importance of the issue, the title of my research would be Establishing Administrative Judiciary in the Republic of Macedonia: Ideas and Prospects. Thus conceived, the research should describe the current legislation, pointing out its shortcomings, analyzing possible solutions and suggesting concrete measures to be taken in order to meet expectations. V. Research contents
The contents of the proposed research would include:
Part One will theoretically define the concept of concrete administrative act-decision as an act of the public authorities that defines the rights, obligations and legal interests of citizens and other legal entities. This part will explain the concept of control or supervision of the work of public administration and the kinds of control stipulated in the Macedonian legal system. Next, the role and significance of each legal remedy will be studied, including use value analysis of each of them. Besides the appeal and the seven special legal remedies stipulated in the Law on General Administrative Procedure, the authority and competence of the public attorney (Macedonian ombudsman) will be worked out as it significantly contributes towards democracy promotion in Macedonia and building trust in its public institutions. Republic of Macedonia is the only country in the region of the so-called Western Balkan that has incorporated the institution of ombudsman in its legal system. This part of the study will include actual data of the five-year experience of the Macedonian ombudsman, as well as suggestions for improvement of its effectiveness.
Part Two of the research could be defined as central since it will contain the key issues of the proposed subject. It will start with comparative analysis of administrative judiciary in several countries: France, as the founder of specialized administrative-judiciary control over the administration work; Croatia, as the first country of former SFRY to establish special Administrative Court; Slovenia and Bulgaria, as countries that have successfully established specialized administrative judiciary from the very start of the period of transition, showing positive results.
Part Three will be devoted to the first indications of the need of establishing administrative judiciary in the Republic of Macedonia. This last part of the paper will attempt to formulate the basic principles on the reforms in the country towards de lege ferenda in the development of new legislative framework (the Law on Administrative Disputes).
Reforms in the public administration in Macedonia are in progress and their outcome will greatly affect the future Macedonian integration into the European institutions. The bearer of this process of integration should be the very administration, reformed and complying with the European legislation. That implies meeting the following conditions: - 1. Establishing fair relations between administration and citizens;
- 2. Introducing transparency and accuracy in the administrative procedure;
- 3. Efficient judicial control over the administration.
The proposed research would be an attempt to contribute towards implementation of the required reforms in the public sector, which are a necessary condition for the incorporation of Macedonia into the European family. | 
