Resen, 11 November 2025 (MIA) - President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova highlighted the importance of IPARD funds for the country in answer to a journalist's question Tuesday, stressing that abuses of the funds must be strictly sanctioned and accountability must be ensured.

“The IPARD funds are very important. This is an incredibly significant project for us. Even here today, we spoke with the mayor about the IPARD funds and how important they are. I think that European behavior or behavior within the rule of law or behavior as good hosts towards the funds that have been given to us as assistance is very, very important. The abuse must be sanctioned strictly. This is not the first time we have been faced abuse. This isn’t good. Accountability must be ensured,” Siljanovska-Davkova said during a working visit to the Municipality of Resen.

On Monday, the Finance Ministry said the country has decided to temporarily suspend the payment of funds from the European Union’s IPARD program following the arrest of the head of the Agency for Financial Support of Agriculture and Rural Development in a bribery case.

“The European Commission and the services in Brussels were informed of this decision on the same day, and they responded by welcoming the decision of the national structures. The goal is to ensure confidence that the established system guarantees the legality and regularity of IPARD payments, as well as the existence of effective measures for the protection against fraud and corruption,” the Ministry of Finance said in a press release.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski denied claims that funds from the IPARD program have been blocked by the European Commission following the arrests, stressing that the investigation is expanding since there are reports of previous abuses. The Prime Minister said he requested a suspension of payments of funds from the European Union’s IPARD program in order to assess how widespread the abuses were.