Skopje, 6 February 2024 (MIA) – Caretaker Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi has held a coordination meeting with the representatives of the institutions in order to assess the reasons for the strike at the Health Insurance Fund. In an interview for MIA, Xhaferi said the decision recommending a reduction of wages for the staff at the Fund should be reviewed.

“We already had a coordination meeting with the institutions in order to assess the reasons for that. And of course, the institutions are receiving the appropriate criticism because they’ve found themselves in a situation in which through a publicly voiced position, through protests and strike, efforts are being made to get a right that has been acquired with certain decisions, and this is probably a remnant from the way the institutions in charge of these issues were being managed,” said Xhaferi.

The PM said a review should be carried out over which part of the decision is problematic and why it had to lead to a strike.

“Regarding the Health Insurance Fund, this is a consequence of the Law i.e., a decision that needs to be reviewed… in order to define the precise source of that and to prevent the institutional aspect of the sources of such an outpouring of discontent,” said Xhaferi.

Xhaferi stressed that the right to strike is indisputable and provided to everyone, but, he said, the institutions have the obligation to carry out their duties in order to prevent a situation where certain rights have to be realized through a strike.

Employees at the Health Insurance Fund are striking due to the Government’s proposal to reduce their wages by 21 percent. They asked the Government to withdraw the proposal at Tuesday’s session.

Regarding the protest of university students, Xhaferi said the “bureaucratic behavior” of some institutions has led to a delayed payment.

“It is evident that regarding the students, the bureaucratic behavior of some institutions has led to a late payment of what is a legal commitment. Which means that someone hasn’t done their job, and we will need to assess that and appropriately point out that such a way of operating isn’t permissible and won’t be tolerated, through appropriate methods of control and supervision of the work of members of the Government and institutions,” said Xhaferi in an interview for MIA.