Comparative view of the conditions and procedures for the appointment of ambassador

Dejan Marolov

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Table of contents

Introduction............................................................................................................3

Conditions provided by the Law on Foreign Affairs...............................................4

The procedure prescribed by the Law on Foreign Affairs......................................7

Conclusion...........................................................................................................10

References……………………………………………………………………………..11

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 Introduction

This paper analyzes and comments the legal framework regarding the conditions

and procedure for appointment of Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia, which has

been given with the Law on Foreign Affairs from 2006. Although considerable time since

the adoption of the Law on Foreign Affairs has passed during which some changes

were made, more serious analysis regarding the anticipated legal solutions about the

conditions and procedure for the appointment of ambassador have not been made.

Therefore, this paper deals with this issue by making a skeleton, consisting of two parts,

the first one analyzes and comments the conditions and the second one analyzes and

comments the procedure for the appointment of ambassador.

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 Conditions provided by the Law on Foreign Affairs

The necessary conditions for a person to become an Ambassador of the

Republic of Macedonia are listed in Article 36 of the Law on Foreign Affairs.

As a first condition the existence of citizenship is mentioned, which means that it is

necessary for the person who pretends to the ambassadorial position to be exclusively

a citizen of RM (Republic of Macedonia). This requirement sounds reasonable because

a person with such function and such authorizations should posses only the citizenship

of the country to whose representative abroad he/she is.

The second condition is pointed in having higher education. This condition is

quite logical. The existence of higher education is necessary for a person who

represents the country as ambassador.

The third condition is having the active (good) knowledge of two foreign

languages. There is also a sub - condition which is that at least one of these languages

must be a language of official usage in the UN 1 (United Nations). Also it is required if an

ambassador have been send to a country where the official language is a language

which is different from those of the official usage in the UN, then the ambassador must

have basic knowledge of that language. The third condition arises from purely practical

reasons. The ambassador represents the country abroad and during the performance of

this function it is logical that he must have a certain amount of communication with the

official and unofficial representatives of the host country.

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Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish

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 The additional request for at least an elementary knowledge of the language of

the host (which is different from the official UN languages) is a kind of recognition of the

reality that the Republic of Macedonia as a smaller country with limited opportunities in

the diplomatic sector cannot provide candidates as ambassadors with a good command

on languages of all countries where the Republic of Macedonia has embassies.

Although, of course, the ideal situation would be that every embassy has a diplomatic

staff with an excellent knowledge of the host language, this solution still remains valid.

In similar direction is Article 43 according to which, “in accordance with the receiving

State, the Ambassador can be accredited at the same time for one or more states or

international organizations”., Similarly as in the previous article here also the reality is

that RM will hardly provide an individual embassy in every country, but also it does not

have real need to have an individual embassy and ambassador in every country, so it

leaves out an opportunity that one ambassador can be appointed as ambassador to

several countries simultaneously.

The fourth prescribed condition is that the candidate for the ambassador must

have gained higher diplomatic title or he/she is already acknowledged in the field of

foreign policy and international relations. This requirement goes in direction that the

future ambassador is a person with experience, i.e. avoiding of a situation where the

ambassadorial post will be taken by a person without sufficient knowledge of the

ambassadorial function.

The fifth condition requires existence of psychophysical health capability. This

requirement is very logical and does not require any particular comment.

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 Finally the sixth and last condition is the existence of an adequate safety

certificate. With this the legal procedure prescribed for this type of function has been

complied.

Interesting to note is that until the decision of the Constitutional Court of

07.11.2007 the Law on Foreign Affairs had an additional requirement for the election of

ambassador. It was about Article 36 paragraph 1, line 6, which altered: “he must not be

convicted of crimes with imprisonment-punishments of at least six months, for crime in

connection with official duties, or other criminal act which makes him unsuitable for an

Ambassador." But with the before mentioned Decision by the Constitutional Court it was

abolished. What is the actual issue? This condition itself seems fairly logical. Therefore,

it could be controversial if as ambassador is sent a person who had been sentenced

prison for longer time for committing a crime connected with official duties. This results

from the fact that a person who has already had a serious law problem has been set on

the post which that provides immunity from criminal prosecution. But this statement

itself contains the assumption that the person who once committed a crime, it will

probably again put himself/herself in conflict with the law. This assumption contains the

possibility for lifelong stigmatization of people who broke the low once before, but they

have already repaid their debt to society for it. Therefore, starting from the fact that

under Article 23 of the Constitution every citizen has the right to perform a public

function, from the fact that in this way one right of the citizen who had committed a

crime is limited and from the fact that in a way he/she gets additional sanction out of the

already adopted verdict (where this limitation is not predicted), the Constitutional Court

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abolished the line six. Accordingly, satisfying of this requirement is no longer obstacle to

the appointment of ambassadors.

Generally, the prescribed conditions are greatly similar to the conditions

stipulated in the relevant legislation of the neighbouring countries as well as of the

former Yugoslavia.

The procedure prescribed by the Law on Foreign Affairs

The procedure for the appointment of Ambassador is prescribed with Articles 37-

43 of the Law on Foreign Affairs. According to these Articles the procedure is initiated

by the Minister of Foreign Affairs 2 who submits proposal for a new Ambassador to the

Government of RM. If the proposal is accepted on the Government session, the

Government informs the President of the Republic in written. After this the President will

give its opinion about the proposal for the appointment of ambassadors within 30 days

and informs the Prime Minister in written. Giving relatively short period of 30 days is

because the ambassadorial post should not be left empty for a longer time and to avoid

the so called “pocket veto” (which would consist in bringing the proposal in the pocket

and not talking about it for a longer time). Only after obtaining a positive opinion by the

President, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeks an agrément from the receiving state 3 of

the new ambassador. After receiving the acceptance, the new Ambassador meets the

Minister of Foreign Affairs and the parliamentary working body of Foreign Affairs where
2
After a preliminary alignment between him and the President of the Republic
3
For the appointment of ambassador in an international organization an agrément is not required but the rules for
the appointment of a permanent representative with a rank of Ambassador apply.

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he explains his views and opinions about the relations with the state or international

organization where he was appointed. After receiving the agrément, the President of the

Republic signs a decree of setting the Ambassador. The decree is published in the

Official Gazette of RM after which the Minister of Foreign Affairs initials and the

President signs the credentials. Finally, after this there is one month period in which the

new embassies should take the duty. According to the Law on Foreign Affairs the

mandate of the ambassadors is four years starting from the day of taking the duty.

The Law on Foreign Affairs stipulates that at least two thirds of the total number

of ambassadors is appointed by diplomatic officials with higher diplomatic titles from the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This ensures the appointment of ambassadors -

professionals. This provision is often debated in public with occasional requirements for

100% professionalism of diplomatic function. But for now the same provision remains as

it is.

Setting up such a framework does not allow any element of the executive itself to

have a monopoly on the appointment of ambassadors because the procedure for

appointment requires involvement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister

and the whole Government and the President of the Republic. Although fairly limited the

legislature is also included with the compulsory introduction of the new Ambassador in

front of the working body of the Assembly. Although in practice this model often

generates misunderstanding between the President and the Government, especially in

situations where the President and the Prime Minister come from different political

parties4, it has been proved to be relatively functional. In general the procedure for the

4
Notable for the time during the mandate of President Branko Crvenkovski from SDSM when the Prime Minister
was Nikola Gruevski from VMRO-DPMNE

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appointment of ambassadors is quite similar to the solutions in the Laws on Foreign

Affairs and other laws in former Yugoslav republics and neighbouring countries.

However, it is normal that in the legislation of RM there are specifics. The

provision of the Law on Foreign Affairs 5 according to which, “in naming ambassadors it

is respected the principle of appropriate and equitable representation of citizens

belonging to all communities and the principle of equal opportunities between the

sexes” is unique. Exactly the first part of the provision according to which the

appointment of Ambassadors is based on the principle of appropriate and equitable

representation, in practice means that during the appointment of ambassadors there

must be candidates from all communities, different from the Macedonians, represented

too. That means that is compulsory that some of the appointed ambassadors belong to

the minority communities. This provision is specific for the legislation of RM and is a

fairly democratic solution to Balkan Peninsula and European conditions for unilateral

countries.

5
Article 36 Paragraph 3

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 Conclusion

The legislation of the Republic of Macedonia regarding the terms of the

procedure for the appointment of ambassadors is mainly based on the actual needs and

capacities of the state. There is relatively good legal framework for the appointment of

new ambassadors, which is largely similar to the legal framework of the countries in the

region. However, the Macedonian legal framework keeps its own specifics. But the good

legal framework does not always guarantee good done work. In this sense, the existing

of legislation should not be understood as one made forever. On the contrary, much

deeper analyzes should be made and foreign experiences should be followed in order

to provide better legal solutions in the requirements and procedure for the appointment

of ambassadors. This will allow better selection of qualitative personnel who will

represent the country abroad.

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 References

Mircev, D. (2006) Macedonian foreign policy. Skopje, Az-buki

Габер, В. (2002) За македонската дипломатија. Скопје, Магор

Бериџ, Г.Р. (2009) Дипломатија, теорија и пракса. трето издание. Прилеп. 11

Октомври

Закон за надворешни работи на Република Македонија 2006

Одлука на Уставен Суд У.бр. 80/2006-0-0 на РМ од 2007

Одлука на Уставен Суд У.бр.225/2007 на РМ од 2008

Измени и дополнувања на Закон за надворешни работи Службен весник на РМ,

бр. 107 од 29.08.2008 година

Zakon o vanjskim poslovima на Република Хрватска 1996

Zakon o spoljnim poslova na Srbija 2009

Закон за дипломатическата служба Bugarija 2011

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