Skopje, 12 July 2024 (MIA) - Minister of Public Administration Goran Minchev has held several meetings with the trade unions, according to which the current 15% wage rise is not enough. He has raised the issue in the Government as well, but given that the state of the Budget is disastrous, he noted, a compromise solution will be sought. 

According to Minchev, at the moment it is not possible to say with certainty what the outcome of the negotiations would be. 

"We must go by several situations on this key issue. I held several meetings with the trade unions and as you mentioned, it is a key issue of concern to them, that practically the current 15% wage rise is not enough and de facto it is one of the key problems. I also had several discussions and I raised the issue in the Government. The state of the Budget at the moment is disastrous. Therefore, we are opening a debate in which we would like to reach a compromise solution. At this moment, we do not have an overview of the state and condition of the Budget in order to discuss those key issues, i.e. specifically the percentage of the wage increase, so we discussed several solutions, but at this moment we will leave it for the debate that we are planning on. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why we are withdrawing the three laws on the administration. But at the moment I could not say with certainty what the outcome of those negotiations will be," the Minister said in response to reporters' questions. 

Minchev is confident that there will be a rebalance by the end of this month or by the beginning of next month at the latest. 

"We submitted our rebalance proposal to the Ministry of Finance based on the previous budget of the former Ministry of Information Society and Administration, which means, de facto, in percentage terms, we refined the funds allocated to the sectors of the former ministry in our rebalance proposal, and they are somewhere over a million euros. That means, as the year ends the Ministry of Public Administration can function in full capacity for all or part of the things that are foreseen in the Ministry of Public Administration. As regards the Budget proposal for 2025, of course, within the Ministry, we will have a more extensive, broader, more analytical debate in which we will forecast the funds, and I think the debate will start sometime in September, with the aim of adopting the 2025 budget by December 31. To note, the comment about the state of the Budget is not based on this Ministry, but on the debate we have in the Government and the situation in most ministries and the debts by which the Government is affected, the current budget deficit,," the Public Administration Minister said. 

The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) demands increase of the minimum wage from the EUR 367 to EUR 450 in the first 100 days of the new Government. 

Photo: MIA