The First Deputy Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Bekim Sali, said on Friday that the country’s Law on the Jurisprudence Exam, in effect since January 2020, contains a “serious flaw” as it does not clearly specify in which language the exam should be conducted.
Sali emphasized that the government supports requests from Albanian students at law faculties to be allowed to take the jurisprudence exam in Albanian, the mother tongue of a significant portion of the population.
“The defect needs to be corrected. The Ministry of Justice has not been prepared to fully respect the Constitution, which guarantees that any language spoken by more than 20 percent of the population is official. Albanian, therefore, must be recognized as an official language, and every law graduate should be able to take the exam in their native language,” Sali told reporters during a press conference.
The issue has drawn criticism from the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) in opposition, which said the Ministry of Justice has “brutally and unacceptably” ignored legitimate requests by Albanian law students. In a statement, DUI warned that the ministry’s refusal undermines constitutional principles and could set a “dangerous institutional precedent.”
According to DUI, the law previously allowed for the exam to be conducted in Albanian following amendments introduced after the adoption of the Law on the Use of Languages, but the current government removed that provision without explanation.
The Ombudsman’s Office has confirmed to local media that it has opened proceedings regarding the exam, which is currently only offered in Macedonian. While no formal complaints have yet been submitted, Ombudsman Faton Selami urged affected citizens to bring their cases forward. He also said the office would initiate a review on its own initiative to examine compliance with language rights in the exam.
Currently, 385 ethnic Albanian law students from three universities in North Macedonia have petitioned authorities—including the Ministry of Justice, the Agency for Language Implementation, the Parliamentary Speaker, and the First Deputy Prime Minister—to ensure the jurisprudence exam is available in Albanian, reflecting the language in which they completed their studies.
Experts and advocates say the issue is not merely procedural but concerns fundamental constitutional and language rights. They note that the jurisprudence exam is a professional qualification test, not a language exam, and that restricting it to Macedonian may create inequality for Albanian law graduates in the country’s justice system.
“Language equality is essential in a fair and democratic justice system,” the DUI said. “Albanian-speaking jurists must be able to use their mother tongue in all judicial institutions, ensuring not only legal compliance but equal representation of the Albanian community.”
North Macedonia is a multiethnic country where Albanian is the largest minority language. According to the 2001 Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended the country’s interethnic conflict, Albanian is recognized as an official language alongside Macedonian in municipalities where ethnic Albanians make up at least 20% of the population. This recognition also extends to education, administration, and legal processes.
The Law on the Jurisprudence Exam, in effect since January 2020, regulates the professional exam that law graduates must pass to practice law in North Macedonia. The law currently does not clearly specify in which language the exam must be conducted.
This has created tension, as Albanian-speaking law students argue that they have the constitutional right to take the exam in Albanian, the language in which they studied. The Ministry of Justice has historically been slow to implement provisions allowing the exam in Albanian, and attempts to clarify or correct the law have stalled in parliament.