Skopje, 19 October 2023 (MIA) - President Stevo Pendarovski said Thursday that the government needs to put forth a legal solution as soon as possible to reduce the wages of state officials, noting that the government has not come up with a solution on the officials' wages, which were increased by 78 percent, for six months now. 

In an interview with TV 21's Click Plus show, Pendarovski also noted that it is necessary for the opposition too to support a solution to reduce officials' wages.

"I reacted immediately after the Constitutional Court's decision to increase the wages. I did not say that the decisions of the Constitutional Court should not be respected. We are talking about an enormous increase here, and we are aware of the situation we are in, given the war in Ukraine, inflation, etc.," said Pendarovski. 

He said that politicians do not live a bad life in the country. 

"I asked that something be done to change the coefficients according to which we receive wages, and to level wages at the state level, because it is inadmissible for a director of a public enterprise to receive a wage that is 2-3 times higher than that of a president or prime minister. The Constitutional Court made the decision in March, for six months now we have been waiting on the Government to propose a law to reduce wages, and I don't know why we are waiting, when it should be adopted as soon as possible. We should neither wait for reactions on the Constitutional Court's decision. Both the ruling party and the opposition remained silent," said Pendarovski. 

I expect, the President added, and demand a 78 percent reduction in the wages of state officials, including mine.