Chashka, 20 March 2024 (MIA) – The laws that are being adopted have to be implemented, and the Government has an obligation to implement laws. The alignment of the wage coefficients of officials appointed by the Government is in line with the legislation adopted by the Parliament, caretaker Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi told reports on Wednesday.

Asked about the Government’s decision to reduce the wage coefficients of government-appointed officials in order to prevent a significant increase of their wages as a result of the alignment with the minimum wage, Xhaferi said that as a Prime Minister and as Government they have to respect the laws.

“In fact, I was the Speaker of Parliament for seven years. And the laws that are being adopted there are an obligation for the Government to implement. My task, as a Prime Minister, and the Government’s task, as an institution, is to react appropriately and timely to the legislation in order to avoid leaving room for a potential situation where you can’t pay the wages of employees at the end of the month due to these formalities. So, that was the reason for the alignment of the coefficients for officials that are within the Government’s competencies,” Xhaferi said.

Xhaferi did not want to comment on the statements from the Council of Public Prosecutors saying they would appeal the decision in the Constitutional Court.

“I don’t want to comment nor do I have the authority to comment because this is an issue of the independent judicial branch, and anything I say could be seen as influence or an intervention,” the PM said.

The government adopted a decision on Tuesday evening lowering government-appointed officials' salary coefficients.

According to the release, this decision is reducing the salary coefficients of government officials including national coordinators, directors and other persons appointed at various posts in government ministries, directors and other appointed members of state administration independent bodies, managers in state organizations, agencies and other legal entities established by special laws as well as penal institutions.

"The government-appointed persons' coefficient decrease is in line with the amendments to the Law on Salary and Other Allowances for Elected and Appointed Persons in the Republic of Macedonia ("Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia" No. 51/24), which foresees a change in the coefficients used to calculate the salaries of elected and appointed persons," the release says.

It adds that the decision will not cause additional financial implications to the national budget.

Photo: MIA