Skopje, 19 February 2024 (MIA) - In response to a reporter's question on whether he will take political responsibility over the situation with the replacement of personal documents, the SDSM leader and former Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said he was not shirking responsibility but it should always be based on facts, noting that the process needs to be completed because it is based on an internationally signed agreement. 

"I have never shirked from any responsibility. However, it should always be based on facts. When talking about 2020, 2021, 2019, then we need to see who performed what function in the state. What I can say is that, first of all, I express regret for what our citizens have to go through in terms of ​​obtaining travel documents and other documents, namely IDs, driving licenses," Kovachevski told reporters on Monday.

He noted that in the area of ​​passports the situation reminded him of 2010 when there had been a similar situation with the biometric passports. According to him, this means that "we have not learned the lesson to better organize the processes of replacing documents".

"This process needs to be completed because it is based on an internationally signed agreement that has been verified by countries which, in fact, made it possible for our country to join NATO and open negotiations with the EU after 17 years of waiting," said Kovachevski. 

Speaking after Monday's panel discussion with students on policies, progress and change, he pointed out that at the moment he does not see a political party in the country that is against the agreement.

"There were political parties telling the citizens that as soon as they take office, they would cancel the Prespa Agreement, return the country's old name, etc. You see that this did not happen, so it was just a rhetoric, a lie, which helped them get certain political points among the citizens. That's why everyone should now focus on replacing the documents as quickly as possible, enabling the conditions for this to be done and for citizens to be able to receive their documents for their summer holidays," the SDSM leader said. 

He pointed out that although 1.2 million passports have been replaced so far, the fact remains that citizens deserve a service that they will receive timely, without having to stand waiting in long queues.

"Citizens always deserve more and always deserve better. That is the basic postulate of a developing society. With that, I agree that the citizens deserve more," Kovachevski said.

Photo: MIA