Skopje, 24 July 2024 (MIA) - Culture has long been treated as a resource that only spends funds, without contributing the state budget. Together with tourism, culture will become a profitable industry, contributing to the country's economy. We have the legal framework to fuse tourism with culture and, by the end of the year, we will have the right platform for how we're going to present ourselves in 2025. Next year we will develop a National Strategy for the Development of Tourism, including the development of culture, because there have been no new strategies since 2022, Minister of Culture and Tourism Zoran Ljutkov said in an interview with MIA.

Regarding the merging of tourism with the Ministry of Culture, which previously was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, he added that there won't be any new posts, since the employees from the Ministry of Economy will be transferred to the Ministry of Culture.

"It is very important to make reorganizations in the ministries based on some statistics that are implemented in recent years, including certain needs. For several years we have been analyzing what needs changing, that is, how culture can be of economic benefit for the country. I think that together with cultural tourism, as it is currently the most developed industry in the country, culture will become a profitable industry that will also contribute to the economy," Ljutkov stressed.

Although there’s a lot to be done, they will start with developing cultural and transit tourism.

"We will develop transit tourism, which is currently the most important one. That is the E-75 motorway from Serbia, passing through Macedonia, to Greece, given the existence of archeological sites. We can also work on developing ecotourism, and given that the Veles Lake is nearby, there are also hotels. We will be focusing more on this part for now, and after 2025 we will have a specific program," Ljutkov noted.

According to him, the employees from the Ministry of Economy will be transferred to the Ministry of Culture as soon as the systematization that is being worked on is completed, at which point the Agency for Development and Support of Tourism will not be part of the Ministry of Economy, but a part of the Ministry of Culture.

Minister Ljutkov told MIA that they will work on this process in the coming period.

When discussing the Tenders for Projects of National Interest in Culture, he said that the employees at the Ministry of Economy have always been professional in their work, and when analyzing applications for the programs.

According to Ljutkov, criticism for the tender project is on account of the criteria and rules set in previous years.

The Minister announced that they will establish new rules and criteria to protect against all problematic influences from previous years.

"In August there will be a new guidebook for the tenders that will be published in September 2024, in order to avoid the same issues that occurred previously due to the negligence of the Minister of Culture," Ljutkov said.

In terms of what will happen to the Universal Hall building, the Minister explained that there have been no notes from the reports in terms of the building itself, and said that he is waiting on the report from the first phase of construction, which should be available soon. But, that he has an issue with the process of how the procedure was done.

"When I say that I will not sign off on future proceedings it means I'm questioning certain processes, seeing as I have inherited a capital project. First, I have no notes on the construction reports. The contractor is just doing his job. The second phase of the tenders begun, yet we still have no information from the first phase or the fire. I was recently informed that I will receive the report in a day or two, therefore the second phase can continue. I have an issue with the procedure itself, which I will look into. If there is something wrong with the procedure, we will decide what happens to the process afterwards, the state can halt the process, not me. Nevertheless, the Universal Hall is currently working in accordance with all rules and regulations." Ljutkov stressed.

However, the Minister believes that even through the Universal Hal is important for the 'Skopje European Capital of Culture 2028' project, it is not the only institution. He noted that the Ministry of Culture will invest all its capacities in financing and modernizing other national institutions, which could be available in 2028.

"There are other institutions under the jurisdiction of the City of Skopje and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. As partners with the City of Skopje within the 'Skopje European Capital of Culture 2028' project, we will invest all our capacities. We will invest no only financial capacities, but also all spatial capacities as we also like to invest in the modernization of all national institutions, which could be available in 2028," stated Ljutkov.

If all reports are in order, he added, and if we are financially able from 2025 onward, by the end of 2027, all ongoing projects will be completed, and in 2028 we can become a European host.

In the interview with MIA, Minister Ljutkov revealed that the auditor’s reports and the Culture Ministry’s report about the Film Agency have been finished before being sent to the relevant institutions. The Culture Ministry conducted an internal audit of the Film Agency in April and May. Recently, Ljutkov said that the Film Agency owned about 11 million euros. 

“The problem arose after 2018 when the annual budget of some seven-eight million euros was suddenly slashed to about 2,5 million euros. And since they couldn’t accept the fact that the government had cut the budget, they kept pursuing a process that looked like this: ‘you conclude deals for double the funds although no funds are secured for next year.’ This means – if you have a deal for 2,5 million euros for next year, you have a deal for almost five million and you will be dragging them over the years,” Ljutkov stated. 

Now, he said, there is a situation in which deals had been concluded for four films that now have a five-year legal deadline to be completed, but this deadline is expiring this year. 

The Minister announced this coming Friday he will meet with officials of the Association of Film Professionals.

“A meeting is scheduled on Friday, but it cannot result in any changes. Their demand [for a meeting] is a logical request and to meet with them is a logical response, however I don’t focus on the Association of Film Professionals. The report solely focused on the Film Agency, and this is what matters to me. But, if irregularities are detected in the Film Agency as a relation to the Association of Film Professionals, it will be a consequence in itself and there is nothing I can do here,” said Ljutkov. 

As regards the law on the use of Macedonian language, Minister Ljutkov mentioned that the legislation passed in Parliament and a new head of the inspectorate for the use of Macedonian standard language will be appointed by the government at the coming session. 

“The law on the use of Macedonian language in 2020 had an unfortunate public debate. We, who were the opposition then, with all the capacities at disposal had stopped the adoption of this legislation because it wasn’t prepared according to the standards of how a law should be passed. After that, it remained stuck in the parliamentary labyrinth for three years. We put forward amendments, which were approved by both the Culture Ministry and the then government. Together, we adopted the law in 2024, which regulates the formation of an inspectorate,” he stated. 

According to him, it is a good legislation, because its implementation is in the jurisdiction of all involved factors in the legislative, judicial and executive government as well as the local self-government units. 

“It will be difficult in the beginning, but I hope this process will succeed. We took office almost a month ago, we will pass it at a government session soon,” said the Minister.

Asked what measures he will take to deal with the illegal constructions in Ohrid, which has been a lingering issue, Ljutkov said the issue will be solved by all involved sides. 

“The Culture Ministry isn’t in charge of these processes. The culture minister is the president of the UNESCO National Commission. At a government session tomorrow (Wednesday), the new UNESCO National Commission will be appointed, whose members are all professionals in the area. It includes the transport ministry as well as the local self-government units, which means we all need to agree what the priorities are. Decisions shouldn’t be made only by one person,” Ljutkov told the interview, filmed on Tuesday. 

He said he’d focus on uniting these institutions and set up a working body, which will make a conclusion on how to tackle these issues.

“This hasn’t been done so far because there was no communication between the involved parties,” said Ljutkov. 

In terms of future activities, he said that many legal amendments should be made before reforms are implemented in 2025.

“In general, we will have to dedicate ourselves to many processes. We’ll keep on pursuing the new bill on culture. There is also the bill on cultural heritage protection. A lot of laws should be either passed or changed in order to implement the reforms coming in 2025. The ‘crown’ that will be the main feature of the term is “Skopje, European Capital of Culture in 2028”,” concluded Minister Ljutkov. 

Bisera Trajkovska

Translated by Bisera Altiparmakova - Marusic and Simona Shurbanovska

Photo: Darko Popov

Video: Asllan Vishko