Skopje, 7 February 2024 (MIA) — Amendments to the Law on Restrictive Measures are not unconstitutional; they define the way persons and companies 'blacklisted' by the United States and the United Kingdom should be prosecuted in line with already existing Macedonian legislation, Deputy Prime Minister of Good Governance Slavica Grkovska said in a Telma TV appearance Wednesday evening.

"We should be aware that our strategic partnership with the USA is crucial for our country," Deputy PM Slavica Grkovska said. "If the United States has been our unwavering supporter throughout our history, in achieving all our strategic goals, both as a nation and as a state, then the same should apply when it comes to the fight against corruption and organized crime."

"I believe that it is, to say the least, frivolous to expect our strategic partners to submit special requests, as required by the current law, instead of publicly 'blacklisted' entities to be prosecuted immediately within our legal system," Grkovska said.

According to her, the updated law should encourage the judiciary to be more efficient.

She said prosecutors were already able to launch an investigation in response to a tip-off, "but unfortunately we have not seen a single step in that direction," she added.

"We are aware that such laws disturb that small group of people who is used to treating the state any way they like. That the fugitive from justice Gruevski reacted to this all the way from Budapest by invoking the sovereignty of the state and opposing this law only speaks to the fact that the initiative we have launched, the law we made has hit the mark," Grkovska said.

The proposed amendments to the Law on Restrictive Measures will make it possible to levy domestic sanctions on corrupt actors who have been 'blacklisted' by the US Department of State.

The US State Department has so far blacklisted Nikola Gruevski, Sasho Mijalkov, Ramiz Merko, Orce Kamchev, Ratka Kamcheva, and Sergey and Irina Samsonenko due to their involvement in corruption. mr/