FIFTH SECTION
DECISION
Application nos. 23018/07 and 23248/07
by Violeta ANDOVSKA and others and Nikolina ATANASOVA
against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 8 June 2010 as a Chamber composed of:
Peer Lorenzen, President,
Renate Jaeger,
Karel Jungwiert,
Rait Maruste,
Isabelle Berro-Lefèvre,
Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva, judges,
and Claudia Westerdiek, Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on 23 May 2007,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
PROCEDURE
The applicants, Ms Violeta Andovska, Ms Elica Nedevska, Ms Ljubica Teova, Ms Silvana Popovska and Ms Nikolina Atanasova are Macedonian nationals who were born in 1968, 1950, 1959, 1964 and 1984 respectively and live in Veles. They were represented before the Court by Mr B. Grozdanovski, a lawyer practising in Skopje. The Macedonian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs R. Lazareska Gerovska.
On 7 January 2010 the Court decided to communicate the applicants' complaint concerning the length of civil proceedings in which they claimed pension and disability contributions. The proceedings began in 1997 and ended on 9 January 2007 (the date of service).
On 18 February 2010 and 14 April 2010 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay each of them 3,900 euros to cover any non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Macedonian Denars at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and free of any taxes that may be applicable. This sum would be payable to the personal accounts of the applicants within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment would constitute the final resolution of the cases.
THE LAW
I. JOINDER OF THE APPLICATIONS
Pursuant to Rule 42 § 1 of the Rules of the Court, the Court decides to join the applications given their common factual and legal background.
II. FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT DECLARATIONS
The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no public policy reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court unanimously
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases.
Claudia WesterdiekPeer Lorenzen
RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy