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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
Decisions |
CM/Del/Dec(2024)1507/H46-7 |
19 September 2024 |
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1507th meeting, 17-19 September 2024 (DH)
H46-7 United Macedonian Organisation Ilinden and Others group v. Bulgaria (Application No. 59491/00) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments
Reference documents |
Decisions
The Deputies
1. recalled that this group of cases concerns unjustified refusals of the courts, between 1999 and 2015, to register the applicant associations based on considerations of national security, protection of public order and the rights of others (goals aiming at “the recognition of the Macedonian minority” and alleged separatist ideas) and on the constitutional prohibition on associations pursuing political goals, as well as failure to meet formal legal requirements (violations of Article 11);
2. deplored that, despite the measures adopted by the authorities between 2018 and 2024, the adoption of Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2020)197 and subsequent decisions, more than 18 years after the first final judgment in this group, associations aiming to “achieve the recognition of the Macedonian minority” continue to be routinely refused registration mainly due to a wider problem of disapproval of their goals; noted also that the apparently inconsistent application of formal requirements raises questions of legal certainty for the applicant and similar associations;
3. noted that the authorities established a Working Group, which already held its initial meeting, to assess the necessity for and propose possible legislative amendments and provided the Committee with detailed information on the composition of the Working Group, which includes high-level representation from the judiciary, the executive power, and academia, exact mandate, and time-frame for the work of this Group; in view of the vital importance of achieving concrete progress, urged them to make full use of the expertise available through the Council of Europe and to engage with the Secretariat at a high-level, including by involving the Secretariat in the work of the Working Group;
4. strongly urged the authorities to take the decisive action which the Committee had called for in its previous decisions to ensure that any new registration request of the applicant associations or of similar associations is examined in full compliance with the obligation under Article 11 of the Convention to protect the right to freedom of association;
5. reiterated their call for regular high-level messages to the public and stakeholders to clarify that these judgments do not give rise to an obligation to recognise a group of persons as a minority or to an obligation of automatic registration, although they mean it is not possible to refuse registration on the grounds rejected by the European Court ; and that registration of associations with similar goals is due, if they satisfy reasonable and consistently applied formal requirements in line with Convention principles;
6. invited the authorities to provide a concrete and detailed analysis of the application of the formal requirements for registration as applied in procedures concerning the applicant and similar associations, and for the registration of associations more generally, and to provide examples of correctly drafted registration documents;
7. called again on the authorities to extend the obligation of the Registration Agency to give instructions for the rectification of registration files; stressed again the need for that Agency to identify exhaustively the defects of a registration file, as indicated in Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2020)197, as well as the need for the courts to exhaustively identify, as far as practicable, the defects of a registration file, as indicated in previous decisions;
8. invited the authorities to provide information on all the above issues by 16 December 2024, taking into account the aspects identified in the analysis of the Secretariat, and decided to resume the examination of these cases at their meeting in March 2025 (DH); affirmed their readiness, in the absence of tangible progress regarding the aspects identified above, and at least concrete results from the Working Group on the aspects identified in paragraphs 3 and 6, to consider at their next examination of these cases the need for immediate adoption of new action aimed at strengthening their political dialogue and co-operation with the Bulgarian authorities to ensure the effective execution of these judgments.