Skopje, 14 December 2023 (MIA) - Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska says she does not see any ulterior motive behind the messages heard in the past days from Ambassador Angela Aggeler and from U.S. representatives, but on the contrary, Petrovska believes they are only in support of everything that "we as a country and as a society are trying to do".

Ahead of Thursday's regional conference ‘Peace and Prosperity in the Western Balkans’, in response to reporters' questions about Ambassador Angela Aggeler's announcement that the "blacklist" will expand and how it affects the country's European integration, Petrovska said the United States is strategic partner since the country's independence, not only in the area of defence. 

"We are all witnesses of the changes we went through in the recent and distant past, the decisions we had to make that may have been difficult at times, politically challenging, but were still made so that we could achieve our strategic goals. I don't see any ulterior motive behind all the messages that we heard yesterday, as well as in the past days, from both the Ambassador and the U.S. representatives. On the contrary, I believe they are only in support of everything that we as a country and as a society are trying to do," Petrovska told reporters.  

She pointed out that corruption is a security issue. 

"If you don't have control over that segment of society, you can never be sure where that money will end up, whom it will finance and at what point. Now we are not talking about major destabilizations, but at any given point they can destabilize the country in any way. And I'm not just talking about North Macedonia, but anywhere," said Petrovska. 

Petrovska underlined that the fight against corruption should not be declarative, adding that she expects the institutions in the country to react with more agility both now and in the future.

"Work is also underway on amending the legislation so that in the future measures can be taken immediately and without delay in the Republic of North Macedonia against individuals who will be added to the blacklist or will suffer sanctions in any way, whether it will be from the EU or from our strategic partners. This is only one small segment, but it is really significant if we want to really tackle corruption," Petrovska said. 

According to her, no one has won a final battle against corruption, "but this does not mean that we should look for excuses, on the contrary, we should give solutions and show activities". Petrovska added that European integration is also the real solution in the fight against corruption. 

Photo: MIA