Skopje, 22 June 2025 (MIA) – A year since VMRO-DPMNE, ZNAM and VLEN formed the government, Macedonia doesn’t look like a prosperous country with a clear direction, but as a country whose dignity has been hurt and whose citizens are disappointed, SDSM leader Venko Filipche told a party roundtable titled “Macedonia Humiliated – Government’s First Year.”

“Today, one year into the government of VMRO-DPMNE, ZNAM and VLEN, Macedonia isn’t proud, Macedonia is humiliated. The workers are humiliated, the farmers are humiliated, young people are humiliated who have been hoping for a future at home. A year is more than enough to realize that VMRO-DPMNE came to power with one big lie,” said Filipche.

In direct meetings with the citizens, he said, I’ve learned that there is no dignified life without dignified salaries, without perspective for young people and without a legal system that applies for all.

Filipche accused the government of “working for itself and those around it while leaving the citizens to their own devices.”

“The government is lying to its citizens that the living conditions are good, but the reality is hard and unbearable,” said the opposition leader.

Reacting to Filipche’s speech, the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE called his policies “a resumption of [ex-PM Zoran] Zaev’s old regime.”

“Macedonia isn’t humiliated, Macedonia is rising leaving you behind… It’s true, the living conditions are hard – but for the first time in a long time, it’s not the result of being robbed, but because we are paying your debts,” said the party in a press release.

Photo: SDSM