Skopje, 11 November 2025 (MIA) - Payments from the IPARD program cannot be halted by a prime minister, nor a minister, nor a party. This is done by the National Authorizing Officer (NAO), an institution that works within the Finance Ministry but acts independently, in line with European rules and standards, opposition party SDSM said in a press release Tuesday after Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said he requested a suspension of payments due to abuses.

The party said NAO does not act upon requests from the government or Mickoski, but solely based on a signal from the European Commission or an internal risk assessment of the payment control system.

“Mickoski, trying to save himself from political responsibility, is positioning himself as a ‘controller’ of European funds, which is an absurdity that reveals his incompetence and panic. To be clear: IPARD III has been suspended because the Agency for awarding IPARD funds is compromised by corruption, abuse, and partisan influence,” SDSM said.

The opposition party said the arrests of the head of the Agency for Financial Support of Agriculture and Rural Development and his close collaborators “appointed by Mickoski and Minister [of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Cvetan] Tripunovski” is a direct reason for the activation of the suspension mechanism.

“NAO is acting to protect European funds from further abuse. Mickoski cannot present that as his own decision, because it is a sanction from the European system of control – not a success of the government, but proof of its failure,” SDSM said.

In the press release, the party called for accountability and resignations. “The state cannot be once again degraded by partisan experiments and corruption schemes that destroy the EU’s trust in the institutions,” it said.