North Macedonia

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s government, formed by VMRO-DPMNE with the VLEN coalition of Albanian parties and ZNAM, was elected by the Assembly on 23 June 2024 by 77 votes to 22. Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova won the presidential run-off on 8 May 2024. The VMRO-DPMNE-led coalition won 55 mayoral contests, including Skopje, in the October–November 2025 local elections. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) described the first round as competitive but warned of sharp political polarisation, misuse of public resources and allegations of voter pressure and intimidation. The Assembly approved a cabinet reshuffle on 13 July 2026 after opposition MPs walked out.

Opening the first cluster of EU accession negotiations remains conditional on constitutional amendments to include Bulgarians in the Constitution. European Council President António Costa reiterated in June 2026 that adopting the agreed constitutional amendments remained the necessary next step. Mickoski said in January 2026 that he required rights for Macedonians in Bulgaria and guarantees for Macedonian identity and language, including assurances against further bilateral vetoes. The European Commission’s 2026 rule of law chapter identifies delays in court proceedings, infrequent final convictions and limited resources as obstacles to a strong record in high-level corruption cases.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks North Macedonia 45th of 180 in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, with a score of 69.49, compared with 42nd place and 70.44 in 2025. It describes parallel media systems created by the two largest parties, over which they exert political and economic influence, and the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) as instruments of intimidation and pressure on independent media. The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) registered five cases of attacks and threats against journalists and media workers in 2025, including the burning of a journalist’s car. Its index on media freedom and journalists’ safety for 2025, published in 2026, records 16 new defamation and insult lawsuits against journalists or media outlets in 2025 and identifies the absence of anti-SLAPP mechanisms as a systemic problem. In a statement dated 14 October 2026, the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services (AVMU) expressed concern over threats on Facebook against the journalists Aleksandar Mitovski and Miloš Miloševski.

Amendments to the Law on Media published in April 2025 created a legal basis for a voluntary register of online media, including information on ownership and ultimate beneficial owners. Assessing the proposed changes in April 2025, the Metamorphosis Foundation argued that they addressed only part of the sector’s problems and did not sufficiently comply with the European Media Freedom Act. Amendments to the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services adopted in February 2024, which AJM reports came into force in 2025, lifted the ban on state advertising in audiovisual media. The Commission’s 2026 chapter reports incomplete government financing of AVMU in 2025, with risks to its financial and institutional independence, and continued concerns among journalists’ associations and media experts about the potential misuse of state-funded advertising.

State Media Monitor maps one media organisation in North Macedonia, the public broadcaster Macedonian Radio Television (MRT). It was classified State-Controlled (SC) from 2022 to 2025 and Independent State Funded and State Managed (ISFM) in 2026. State budget funding accounted for 97.34 per cent of its revenue in 2025. Its Programme Council is appointed by the Assembly, which elected a new Council in June 2025 after years of delay. The Council appointed Zoran Ristoski as director on 23 April 2026. A marketing agency owner, he was described by the opposition as a friend of Mickoski.

MRT’s new Statute, adopted on 5 March 2026, sets out safeguards for the independence of editors from external actors and from MRT’s management bodies, and provides that the director and other MRT bodies do not give directions that could influence the selection, alteration or cancellation of content for political, economic or personal interests. The reclassification reflects that this review did not establish state direction of MRT’s coverage. AJM’s index recorded no direct government pressure on MRT’s newsrooms or individual journalists in recent years, including 2025, while identifying structural pressure and continuing political influence. ODIHR found public and private broadcasters’ 2025 election coverage generally balanced in tone, but criticised statutory quotas for MRT’s newscasts as restricting its editorial independence. RSF continues to describe the public broadcaster as lacking editorial and financial independence.

Media profiles