Austrian Ambassador to Macedonia Georg Woutsas sent a stern letter to the European Commission and to the Macedonian Parliament condemning the attempt by the ruling majority to amend the law on gambling. The changes to the law aim to curb the exploding number of casinos, and would limit them by location – to no less than 500 meters from a school – the goal being to reduce exposure of children to gambling. The law, that is mostly pushed by the powerful ethnic Albanian coalition partners, is proposed in Parliament through an expedited procedure meant to align Macedonia’s laws with those of the EU countries.

But Austrian companies have extensive interests in the gambling sector in the country and the Ambassador is now condemning the practice of using the “EU flag” procedure in Parliament for this legislation.

I would like to draw your attention to my serious doubts expressed in the letter related to the EU flag. Since the law on games of chance and entertainment games of the Republic of (North) Macedonia is not subject to EU harmonization, so are amendments thereto. May I kindly ask you to put the draft law on amendments not on the agenda of the Committee of European Affairs, since it does not fulfill the requirement for shortened procedure. In addition, I have received legal advice that the current provisions are violating the fundamental values of the constitutional order in Article 8 of the Constitution, i.e., rule of law, freedom of the market and entrepreneurship, respect for generally accepted norms of international law. Rule of law is a cornerstone of the negotiations with the European Union. Rule of law encompasses all institutions and processes, with a special responsibility of the legislature, ambassador Woutsas writes in his letter that is also sent to the members of the Parliament who sit on the EU committee, that will determine whether the law can be expedited with the “EU flag” procedure.

The public has been outraged by the number of casinos and other gambling facilities that are being opened and are replacing cafes and other forms of social life. These open often in coordination with easy credit stores that give loans on collateral like cars and motorcycles at exorbant interest rates and also crypto exchange shops.