Skopje, 29 June 2026 (MIA) — People who don't want the state to succeed are dismissing the new Eurostat data showing that the country has the cheapest groceries in Europe, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Monday at the opening of a new preschool in Trubarevo.

After meeting with representatives of grocery store chains last week and announcing plans to speak with food manufacturers and suppliers about lowering their prices, Mickoski said that cutting basic food costs was his main priority. 

“We are looking into the details,” he said, adding that he was personally looking into the 600 groceries tracked by the official statistics. 

“That is my personal priority,” Mickoski said. “It is good that Eurostat’s parameters say the basic grocery costs in Macedonia are by far the lowest in Europe, sitting at around 49.7% of the European average.”

“Is this enough? No. But it disproves all of those who don’t want this state to succeed and who don’t want to see Macedonia proud and progressive, and practically all those ‘evil tongues’ creating a bad, gloomy mood in society,” he said.

“This data, these parameters disprove these anti-state elements in Macedonia,” Mickoski said.

The prime minister reiterated that he was personally reviewing the methodology used to track 600 to 700 basic food products to find a way to improve the situation.

Following his meeting with supermarket executives last week, Mickoski announced a goal to bring annual food inflation down below 3% by July. He said he would hold meetings with food producers and distributors to achieve this goal.

Meanwhile, the State Market Inspectorate will investigate pricing. Market inspectors will compare May 2025 prices to May 2026 prices, looking at the difference between what suppliers charge supermarkets and what supermarkets charge shoppers. Mickoski said the goal was to pinpoint the exact reason behind basic food costs going up. mr/