Skopje, 17 March 2026 (MIA) - VMRO-DPMNE Executive Committee member and Government Spokesperson Marija Miteva said Tuesday that the tragedy in Kochani was a strong wake-up call for the country, exposing a system that has been dormant for far too long. She pointed out that the system needs to function despite changes of power in order to establish principles and implement them consistently in the future.

"Kochani was a difficult lesson for everyone and a strong wake-up call for the country, because the system was dormant for far too long. The work is not done. The system and the awakening of the system is one thing, but more important to me is the functioning of the system," Miteva told Telma TV's Top Tema. 

She pointed out that inspections have been conducted and a comprehensive analysis of all institutional weaknesses has been made, noting that controls and oversight are crucial to ensuring that there are no abuses in the country.

"After the inspections carried out in 2025, we have only seven active licenses, 4,000 inspections carried out, over 1,700 misdemeanor payment orders, 162 decisions banning temporary activities, whereas just one year earlier, in 2024, numbers were drastically lower. Institutions have cross-departmental coordination. This case raised questions about whose competence it is, who issued the appropriate document. Control is real because when the numbers confirm this, there are fewer issues, the risk is lower in this situation because the more controls and oversight you have, the less likely you are to see situations of abuse," said Miteva. 

She added that the new management of the institutions has conducted a comprehensive analysis of all the institutional weaknesses, noting that it was not just a reaction after the tragedy, but rather a continuous approach that the Government has been providing for the past 365 days and will continue to provide.