Skopje, 5 January 2025 (MIA) — Skopje is currently the third most polluted city in Europe, behind Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Prishtina, Kosovo, according to IQAir's AirVisual air quality monitoring platform. Residents are recommended to avoid outdoor exercise, close windows to avoid dirty outdoor air, run air purifiers and wear an N95 respirator mask.

Skopje was the most polluted city in the world two days ago, according to the platform.

Meanwhile, the City of Skopje said Sunday that their environmental inspectors were the only ones carrying out inspections and issuing fines to polluters out of 14 institutions responsible for the environment, including the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Interior, and the State Environmental Inspectorate.

The City of Skopje inspectors are issuing fines "indiscriminately to all those who do not respect the law, pollute the environment and endanger the health of citizens," the City of Skopje said.

Over the past week, according to the City of Skopje, their environmental inspectors imposed sanctions on over 20 polluters.

Last year, the City of Skopje filed several criminal complaints against people dumping or burning hazardous waste, asbestos sheets and other construction waste.

Their criminal complaint against the Usje cement plant, however, has still not been addressed by the Public Prosecutor's Office, they said, "even after more than two years" since the inspectors' measurement results showed more than twice the permitted values ​​of nitrogen oxides the factory was putting into the air.

To improve air quality, the City of Skopje said they were offering subsidies for heat pumps, bicycles, chimney cleaning, and replacement of asbestos roofs. 

On Saturday, Deputy Minister of Environment Ane Lashkoska said the government had adopted environmental protection measures and urged municipalities to implement them to deal with the air pollution. mr/