Skopje, 24 September 2025 (MIA) - The six laws on the Judicial Council, on the Council of Public Prosecutors, on the prosecutors, the judges, and the administrative staff in the judiciary will be adopted by the end of December in line with the Growth Plan, but the percentage of budget increase for the judiciary will be implemented in line with a comparative analysis that is currently being drafted and includes five member states of the European Union as examples, Prime Minister Hrisitjan Mickoski told journalists on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said “it has become clear to the entire Macedonian public that this is not a matter of meaningful reforms in the judiciary and prosecution, but an increase to the budgets with the goal of raising wages.”

“This is the reform and it is good that now the Macedonian public can judge. I am not talking about everyone [in the judiciary], there are also those who are doing their job in line with the legislation and Constitution, but there is a small part that is endangering this process and there are also prosecutors and judges who do not even deserve the wage they are currently receiving. Whether we will allocate twice as much as some more developed EU member states – I will let the public and the citizens judge about the wages of prosecutors and judges,” Mickoski said.

The Prime Minister reiterated that the public should judge “whether they [the judges and prosecutors] deserve to snitch in Brussels and wherever they go, that the Government is not raising their wages.”

“Let the public judge and let the people in Brussels judge whether these people who are generators of corruption in the country, instead of being the ones fighting corruption, deserve this wage. As a Government, 15 months since we were elected, we have not had a single corruption or crime-related scandal, this is rule of law. In the municipalities where VMRO-DPMNE has mayor have not had a single corruption scandal,” Mickoski said.

The Prime Minister said the request is for 1.3 percent of GDP to be allocated for the judiciary.

“Based on our projections for 2028, towards the end of our Government, if the nominal figure is around US$20 billion, that would mean the judiciary should have a budget of US$260 million. The public should judge, we won’t talk about it,” Mickoski said.

Mickoski noted he doesn’t expect “those who appointed” the prosecutors and judges to have a different stance from the “protective one” they already hold.

“Who defends the prosecutors and judges – once again I will note I am not referring to all of them, just a small number of them – it is usually politicians from SDSM or DUI because they are the last bastion in defense of past crime and corruption since they are aware and scared that the law they smuggled through Parliament with a European flag is not enough to save them and that there are also other provisions that recognize their crime and for which they will have to answer,” Mickoski said, adding that “justice is impossible with some of these judges and prosecutors”.

The Prime Minister vowed that after the local elections the Government would “find all legal mechanisms, regardless of criticism, to ensure we have prosecutors who prosecute and judges who judge according to the law and Constitution”

Mickoski said the wages of administrative staff in the judiciary would be increased, noting this isn’t an issue and that wages of judges and prosecutors are 5 to 7 times higher than those of the administrative staff and assistants.

“No one is opposed to the amendments of the law on prosecutorial and judicial service. These are two laws with which we will increase the wages for the administration, for the staff in courts and prosecutor’s offices. This is a part of the negotiations we are leading with the unions and we are ready to implement this and no one is opposted to it,” Mickoski said.

The Prime Minister noted there would be new hirings in the judiciary after the “former remnants” are cleared out.

“Yes, first those former remnants need to be cleared out. Unfortunately, we can’t do it now, we’re in an election period, but right after that we plan to, and this is part of the Growth Plan and we intend to fulfill it,” Mickoski underscored.

Photo: Government