Communicated on 21 December 2020 Published on 1 8 January 2021

FIFTH SECTION

Application no. 38692/16 Jonche BLAZHESKI and Vide BLAZHESKA against North Macedonia lodged on 29 June 2016

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The applicants are parents of three minor children. All children and Mr Blazheski (the applicant father) have the nationality of the respondent State. In 2009, following the birth of their third child, Ms Blazheska , the applicant mother and spouse of the applicant father, obtained a social allowance aimed at supporting families with three or more children (“third-child allowance”). The payment of this allowance was discontinued in 2012 when the competent administrative authority discovered that she had not been a national of the respondent State, which was a statutory requirement for obtaining the allowance in question. Two levels of administrative courts dismissed the applicants ’ appeals and confirmed the discontinuation of the payment. It appears that the aforesaid circumstances regarding the applicants did not fall under any statutory exception that would have provided Mr Blazheski , instead of Ms Blazheska , with the possibility of claiming the allowance in question.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Has the respondent State discharged its positive obligation under Article 5 of Protocol No. 7 to provide for a satisfactory legal framework under which the applicants, as spouses, would enjoy equal rights and responsibilities in respect of their children? In particular, has the applicable legal framework provided Mr Blazheski with the same rights as Ms Blazheska with regard to the entitlement to a third-child allowance? If not, was the difference in treatment between the applicants, as spouses, necessary in the interests of their children, within the meaning of Article 5 of Protocol No. 7?

APPENDIX

No.

Applicant ’ s Name

Birth year

Nationality

Place of residence

1Jonche BLAZHESKI

1962Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia

Drugovo

2Vide BLAZHESKA

1970Albanian/ Macedonian/ citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia

Drugovo