Skopje, 10 January 2024 (MIA) - Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said Wednesday there were several candidates for director at the national air navigation service provider M-NAV, not just two. Ilir Mehmedi, former Civil Aviation Agency director, was recommended first but since he did not meet the required criteria he was replaced with Hekuran Asani.

"The Government recommended and reviewed several candidates, not just two, while also taking into account M-NAV's Statute, and based on that two candidates were singled out. One was already working at M-NAV and then the Civil Aviation Agency but as it turned out, the candidate must be an air traffic controller," PM Kovachevski told reporters.

The selected candidate has 25 years of experience and was highly rated by professionals.

"There are two more decisions - the Labor Inspectorate will do an emergency inspection on the unions, since there are several, and we will ask the Civil Aviation Agency to submit their report on the emergency M-NAV audit," Kovachevski noted.

According to him, the Government and especially Eurocontrol should closely monitor M-NAV, since they receive funding and are a part of the Eurocontrol system.

"There are several aspects that need to be analyzed and intervene where necessary. First, I think that M-NAV has become a family business, since there are three generations employed there. Take into account the union - a father worked there, then his son, and brother, and in the end the company has become a family with conflicts that usually take place at home. I think that should be investigated, but also the procedure and criteria for selecting candidates, to not allow a candidate to have ready-made tests. There are too many 'coincidences' in that organization, which implies that maybe those coincidences are not coincidences," Kovachevski stressed. ssh/ik/