Skopje, 17 January 2026 (MIA) — SDSM leader Venko Filipche told a press conference Saturday that it was not a mistake he declined Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski's invitation to attend the leaders meeting held Wednesday. “I do not trust the people in power in what they say, because I watch what they do,” Filipche said. 

According to him, “our society is not ready” enough to scrap the requirement that a caretaker government be formed 100 days prior to parliamentary elections to ensure a fair vote under the Przhino Agreement. 

This was one of the topics leaders discussed during the meeting, with PM Mickoski offering a compromise solution to SDSM. At the time, he said the caretaker government provision would still be in effect ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election. "To break this stand-off, we will also accept that compromise. If SDSM thinks we need to have a caretaker government for the next election, fine. But regardless of who wins the next election, there should be no more caretaker governments going forward," the PM said after the meeting.

In response to a question whether SDSM would accept this compromise, Filipche said the current government behaved the same as the government "that led to the Przhino government model” and said this kind of governance should not be tolerated.

"They abuse all the institutions, exert pressure through the police and social services, abuse agriculture. What more do we need to see to know that the opposition should exercise some control over that government? This was back in 2016, but the same is happening now. Our society is not ready. VMRO-DPMNE has not held any parliamentary elections in the past ten years. We have reasons and concrete arguments as to why we doubt they can do this right, in a fair and democratic way," Filipche said. 

According to him, SDSM is the only real opposition party and Levica and DUI attended the leaders meeting only to push their own interests.

He said it was his party that was looking for solutions to people's everyday problems while the government had "no answers."

"We are a responsible political party and we lead the opposition. We are the ones pointing out the risks the country is facing. We are the ones asking why there is a two billion euro hole in the budget and why salaries are not increasing in any sector while every statement the prime minister gives is just one big lie," the SDSM leader said. mr/