Skopje, 24 January 2024 (MIA) — Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said Wednesday that the authorities had enough passport booklets to issue travel documents, dismissing claims by Ombudsman Naser Ziberi who said in an interview with Radio Free Europe on Sunday that citizens were complaining that the Ministry of Interior did not abide by the legal deadline for issuing travel documents because there was a shortage of booklets and other documents.

"There are passport booklets, with a new delivery arriving on Monday, and another batch arriving next week," Interior Minister Spasovski said in response to a reporter's question after a panel he participated in as part of the "Year of European Opportunities" conference held in Skopje on Wednesday.

Regarding the human stampedes happening in front of clerks issuing personal documents ahead of the Feb. 12 deadline, Spasovski said document issuance would not stop on Feb. 12.

"In 2021, only 120,000 documents were issued, which means that people [in Skopje] procrastinated or waited until the last day," the interior minister said. He added that "almost one hundred percent" of residents of other places in North Macedonia had had their new personal documents issued already.

Even though Skopje was lagging behind, he said, "over 1.25 million travel documents and over 1.1 million ID cards as well as about 550,000 driver's licenses" have been issued so far and the process of replacing documents with the old name of the country was wrapping up.

"The most important thing is that the issuance of documents does not stop on Feb. 12. They will continue being issued," Spasovski said. mr/