Skopje, 1 October 2024 (MIA) - We received a Government from which so far we’ve only heard excuses and accusations of their predecessors to cover up their own incompetence. A Government that is carrying out a brutal partization with incompetent staff and daily ministerial scandals. There is no responsibility from the politicians and officials, while the truth has been replaced with constant propaganda, said SDSM leader Venko Filipche at a press conference Tuesday on occasion of the Government's first 100 days in office.

Filipche recalled that Prime Minister Hrisitjan Mickoski promised a professional public administration, merit system, higher wages, fight against crime and corruption, and a shrewd foreign policy.

“So far, they haven’t fulfilled any of these promises, and the failure to fulfill big promises leads to big disappointments as well. There is no increase of the minimum wage to EUR 450 which would’ve been a reality today with SDSM. They say that if the economy did well then, perhaps they would raise the wages. Teachers and education workers received pay raises of 0.7 percent instead of the 12 percent planned by SDSM. A complete degradation of workers and their rights is taking place. Unfortunately, the policy of a cheap workforce is coming back. Wages are falling, the living standard is declining, and the Government didn’t even manage to protect the citizens from the high prices and the greed of the traders,” the SDSM leader said.

Filipche also said there is no trace of the “epic crime that was allegedly supposed to be proven”.

“Instead of evidence and proceedings in the relevant institutions, we have daily press conferences by VMRO-DPMNE publicly lynching the opposition. Mickoski has transformed the party’s press conferences into a prosecutor’s office. The age of the worst propaganda used to destroy the lives of innocent people is coming back,” Filipche stressed.

He spoke about the Government’s "collapsed" promises to reform the judiciary. “They promised to dissolve the councils of prosecutors and judges, even though they were well-aware that they cannot, but also mustn’t do that. VMRO-DPMNE hasn’t provided a realistic idea and concept of how it plans to improve the situation in the judiciary despite its grand promises,” the SDSM leader added.

He also highlighted the “lack of shrewd diplomacy that was meant to make us proud again, and VMRO-DPMNE has disappointed everyone when it comes to this issue”.

“In 100 days, VMRO-DPMNE has managed to bury the country’s European future and placed the country at the bottom of the Balkans. It hasn’t offered a clear path forward, nor has it offered an alternative. Mickoski decided to unilaterally end negotiations with the Union, as if the country belongs to him. He neither has the mandate nor the right to do that,” Filipche said.

Filipche touched upon the situation in the party he leads, which he said is consolidating as the “sole and credible opposition to the current Government”.

“There were mistakes, but we never made mistakes in relation to the strategic interests of the country and the citizens. SDSM has been fighting for a European Macedonia for three decades, and we are ready to face the Government directly and oppose all wrong policies,” Filipche stressed. 

Photo: SDSM