Skopje, 28 January 2025 (MIA) — Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said his being followed by intelligence agencies while he was the opposition leader was "abuse of state resources" and was no different, according to him, than the wiretapping scandal people went to prison for.

"What's the difference between the abuse of state resources for wiretapping, and physical surveillance, also through abusing state resources, of the largest opposition political party leader?" he said in an interview for the "360 Degrees" TV show.

"What's the difference? There's no difference. People are in prison for doing this," he said.

Citing sources from intelligence agencies, PM Mickoski said his being followed had been done on the basis of an informant's statement implicating the VMRO-DPMNE leader as a leader of a paramilitary group, and not on material evidence. 

"This is not okay," he said, "And I'll tell you why. Because if I had financed and inspired an armed formation that was posing a danger to the legal order and the Constitution of Macedonia at the time, and one of these two agencies had made this conclusion, then it would have made sense for that agency to inform the Ministry of Interior. The question is why didn't they inform it?" 

According to Mickoski, the reason was that at the time the Ministry of Interior was helmed by caretaker interior minister and VMRO-DPMNE member Nakje Chulev.

Asked about the country's European integration, the prime minister said the country should have become an EU member state by now.

"The people clearly said what they thought about the agreement on the table at the time," he said, adding that the country's name change was meant to help it not only join NATO but also join the EU.

"Where are we now? You and I are discussing this topic when we shouldn't be discussing it. We should be a member of the EU," Mickoski said. 

"In 2018, some of those European politicians told me we were frontrunners, and in 4 to 5 years we would be an EU member. Those five years passed last year, and where are we? In the waiting room," he said.

"Those who previously led the Macedonian government are to blame for accepting all that was put on the table, thinking it would get people at home to forgive their crimes and destruction," Mickoski said. mr/