Contributed by Debarliev, Dameski & Kelesoska.

In The Debrief, our Practice Leaders across CEE share updates on recent and upcoming legislation, consider the impact of recent court decisions, showcase landmark projects, and keep our readers apprised of the latest developments impacting their respective practice areas.

Slovenia and Croatia adopted the Minimum Tax Act (MTA). The MTA implements Directive (EU) 2022/2523 to ensure a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in the EU. The latter is a consequence of the OECD’s global fight against tax base erosion within the scope of Pillar II.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. As we bid farewell to 2023, this time around we turn our attention forward: What is your one main wish for 2024 and what do you see as the biggest potential risk?

As a result of the challenges that the local market has been facing over the past years brought on by the recent pandemic, wars, and other changes in the market, the majority of businesses are faced with losses and accumulating high levels of debt. Consequently, enormous pressure is imposed on businesses, including on their viability, which, in turn, pushes the need to explore methods for overcoming these obstacles.

CMS has advised the Linamar Corporation on its acquisition of Dura-Shiloh’s battery enclosures factory in North Macedonia. The acquisition also included factories in the Czech Republic and the US, with a total transaction value of USD 325 million.

On February 19, 2024, Tosic & Jevtic and JPM Partners jointly announced their new strategic partnership, with the Serbia-headquartered firm expanding its presence to North Macedonia and Tosic & Jevtic becoming part of JPM Partners.

Harrisons, Maric & Co, Lambadarios, and Wolf Theiss, working with Linklaters, have advised a banking consortium led by UniCredit Bank London on the United Group's EUR 1.7 billion issuance of four tranches of senior secured and PIK notes as well as on the increase and extension of its EUR 410 million revolving credit facility. Selih & Partnerji, working with Paul Weiss, advised the United Group. Schoenherr, Koutalidis, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, and Elvinger Hoss Prussen reportedly advised the United Group as well.

Did you know that, using the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, you can look up the 2023 deal leaderboards in each CEE market, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia?

Drakopoulos has become a part of the South East Legal Alliance, thus expanding the network’s reach to Athens, Bucharest, and Nicosia.

While the legal landscape in North Macedonia might be somewhat stagnant – due to 2024 being an election year – there are still challenging complexities to the judicial reforms on the table, as well as struggles with consistency and knowledge, according to Polenak Law Firm Partner Tanja Polenak.

Here, we will look at the draft tax reforms proposed by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2022 (Tax Reforms) that aims to ensure a fair, efficient, transparent, and modern tax system.

With CMS’s recently published European M&A Outlook report taking the temperature of the M&A activity across the continent, CMS Romania Managing Partner Horea Popescu and CMS Vienna Partner Alexander Rakosi share their insights on M&A trends in the CEE region.

In recent times, the global economic landscape has raised concerns about the potential onset of a recession. Consequently, businesses operating in North Macedonia are proactively seeking strategies for cost reduction and organizational restructuring.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD”) and the World Bank are among the international financial institutions spearheading a 3-billion-euro plan to wean North Macedonia off its reliance on coal. The “Just Energy Transition Investment Program” (JET-P) plan follows the footsteps of several other countries in efforts to retire coal power plants, with the joint support of the government, as well as public lenders and private investors.

Recent months in North Macedonia have brought notable proposals and draft laws for legislative changes and have seen thriving energy and financial sectors – but also a concerning lack of progress on the rule of law, impacting businesses and investment – according to Law Office Lazarov Managing Partner Dragan Lazarov.

On Friday, 17 November, the Minister for transport and communications of North Macedonia, Mr Blagoj Bochvarski, and the Minister for construction, transport and infrastructure of Serbia, Mr Goran Vesić, signed a Memorandum for the Construction of a Fast Railway from Niš to Skopje.

The concept of a digital workplace, characterized as an employment environment allowing employees to complete tasks, collaborate, and function as part of a team, irrespective of location, has been around for some time but has gained significant traction in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This surge in popularity can be substantially attributed to the measures enacted by the Macedonian Government to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.