Skopje, 16 July 2025 (MIA) - Chief Prosecutor Ljupcho Kocevski told journalists Wednesday there is no political influence on his work and assessed the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report as real and objective. He pointed to progress in transparency and the fight against high-level corruption, but also highlighted challenges faced by the Prosecutor's Office, such as insufficient budget and staff shortages.

“The European Commission has assessed matters accurately. Recently there really has been an increase in transparency, as well as prioritizing high-level corruption cases, and we have been successful. Regarding other issues, it is true that the Prosecutor’s Office has been allocated less funds than it is legally supposed to receive and this was noted by the Commission,” Kocevski said, adding that no politician has so far influenced him personally on certain cases.

Kocevski did not respond directly when asked whether he sees the lack of approval for new hires within the Prosecutor’s Office as pressure on the work of the institution, but said it complicates the institution’s work.

“As Chief Prosecutor I have attended every revision of the budget and I keep reiterating the same in front of the MPs, that we really need funds at least as much as we are legally supposed to have. This is 0.4 percent of the budget. Additionally, in the past two years, not a single new hire has been approved. As Chief Prosecutor, last year I requested only 100 new hires for the entire country, which means an administrative service. However, not a single one was approved, I requested the same for this year, but yet again we are working with one-third of what the prosecution should be,” Kocevski said.

MIA file photo