Skopje, 24 September 2024 (MIA) – Following the remarks by MP Halil Snopche, Worth It deputy president, that the coalition would leave the government if the veterans’ law were adopted, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski when asked Tuesday how he planned on solving this, responded briefly: “Good luck to him.”

He gave an identical answer when asked by reporters for a comment on yesterday’s remarks by Ali Ahmeti, leader of the opposition DUI, announcing protests and criticizing the annulment of the ‘balancer’ tool.

“I wish him luck and good health, too,” Mickoski said.

On the remarks by SDSM MP Slavjanka Petrovska, who sponsors the bill, urging the PM to act the same way as with the passage of the law on the Hungarian loan, Mickoski said Petrovska didn’t understand parliamentary procedures.

Also, he said he would not function according to ‘the principle of threats.’

“I’m surprised that a professor would use threats. I guess it is his decision. When and whether the veterans’ bill will be forwarded, I don’t know, it’s not up to me. However, we will endorse it,” stated Mickoski. 

Asked whether he would call on the Speaker to convene a session of the commission for social policy, demographics and youth involving the veterans’ bill, the PM said he would because “it is what SDSM has been demanding.”

The bill on veterans, set to be passed in fast-tracked procedure, is stuck in the commission for social policy, demographics and youth because its chairwoman, Ilire Dauti of the DUI-led European Front coalition, is yet to schedule a session. 

The motion for amendments to the law on specific rights of security forces includes benefits for family members of killed or injured Army and Ministry of Interior servicemen, family members of those killed in the 2008 and 2014 helicopter crashes, the 2004 President's plane crash, the Divo Naselje clashes in 2015, and the families of those killed while performing official duties between 1991 and 2024, including the 2001 conflict.

Photo: MIA