Skopje, 19 April 2023 (MIA) – Moving towards the EU as a strategic goal means constant improvement of the accountability of the institutions. I expect all institutions to focus and demonstrate a greater implementation of the National Strategy for the prevention of corruption, said Deputy Prime Minister in charge of good governance policies, Slavica Grkovska, on Wednesday, at a working meeting focused on the progress of the institutions involved in the fight against corruption, and the fulfillment of the recommendations laid out in the European Commission’s 2022 Report and the 2021-2025 National Strategy for the prevention of corruption and conflict of interest.

Deputy PM Grkovska said that in order to address the shortcomings noted in the EC Report for 2022, and for the next report to show that the country is making progress, the institutions were instructed in December to deliver a list to the Deputy PM’s Office, consisting of the measures and concrete activities they will implement during 2023 based on the recommendations of the EC Report and the National Strategy. She added that only a portion of the institutions answered within the given deadline.

“The institutions must be more responsible and more agile because the country’s progress depends on all of us. We have to know the measures and activities undertaken by each institution so that we can discuss and assess how relevant and appropriate they are, and whether they are concrete, with concrete deadlines and indicators of success in order to track progress. Anything else would only be improvisation and formality,” said Grkovska.

She underlined that this fight does not depend on a single person or a single government, but it depends on everyone and the success of the country will be a shared success because this is the only way that leads to progress.

“Unfortunately, the latest report from the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption showed a low implementation of the Strategy, which mustn’t be repeated. This shows that every institution needs to seriously commit itself to its portion of obligations and responsibilities and fully focus its capacities for their implementation. I expect all institutions to focus and demonstrate a higher degree of implementation of the National Strategy for the fight against corruption,” said Grkovska.

This commitment, the Deputy PM added, must be a priority for all institutions and there should be no room for a dismissal or a partial implementation of the clearly stated obligations.

Grkovska said that the part of the meeting that is closed to the public will discuss the most critical and problematic points in detail.

“I am fairly open and strict when it comes to unfulfilled obligations. I think that after 30 years of independence, we should have no excuses for any improvisations or non-implementation of obligations. Which is why I expect, and I hope that we will all remain open to suggestions and proposals, and we will be realistic and objective, and focus on improving the anti-corruption activities of the institutions we represent,” said Grkovska, stressing the importance of coordination and cooperation between all institutions with the goal of achieving tangible results as soon as possible.

The working meeting on Wednesday was also addressed by the EU Ambassador to North Macedonia, David Geer.