Skopje, 27 August 2024 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hrisitjan Mickoski said Tuesday there was an attempt to bribe him to accept tender documentation for Corridor VIII which expire on September 17. The PM did not say who made the attempt and stressed that he notified EU partners about it.

Mickoski said all relevant institutions have been notified about the attempt to bribe him.

“I will say it in front of the entire Macedonian public, for Corridor VIII, section 3, the railway, there was an attempt to bribe me so that I, as Prime Minister, accept the tender documentation which expires on September 17. That’s why I said that for as long as I am Prime Minister, I won’t accept this tender. The days of this type of communication with the Prime Minister are over. All institutions that should be notified have been notified,” Mickoski stressed.

In answer to media questions, the PM underlined that all corridors passing through the country are a priority, while work on both Corridor VIII and Corridor X will be carried out with equal commitment since, he said, they are both very significant for the country.

“When it comes to Corridor VIII, we talked to officials from Brussels, the European Commission, but also the banks who are providing grants or loans for the projects – EBRD and EIB. And I think that after today’s meeting, they too realize that the project represents a serious issue in its current conception. As a Prime Minister I can never approve such a project, I can never spend half a billion of taxpayers’ money on a project that ends halfway through a tunnel, in a dead-end. For as long as I am Prime Minister, this won’t happen. And secondly, since I was a victim of a bribery attempt in relation to the project, I said that in its current form, I will never support it, because we aren’t only talking about the money of Macedonian taxpayers, but also European taxpayers,” Mickoski said.

The PM said another great concern is the fact that the project isn’t complete, noting that the Government expects the Bulgarian side to be equally committed.

“We expect the same commitment and concern from the Bulgarian side, i.e., the other half of the tunnel to be completed, as well as those 5-6 kilometers for a connection to the existing railway in Bulgaria because we need the entire railway. We shouldn’t spend half a billion euro here, while they do nothing,” Mickoski stressed. 

Photo: MIA Archive