Skopje, 18 November 2025 (MIA) - Commenting on the topic of the judiciary and the prosecution, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told Telma TV's "Top Tema" on Tuesday that judges in the country demand a budget far above the European average, as much as 75 percent more, yet, he stressed, what results have the judges delivered to receive such budget, noting that therefore he sees no reason to increase the amount.

"On the budget, let me present an analysis for the Macedonian citizens. This is a European report. The budget that we as a state allocate for the judiciary is 0.39 percent of our GDP. Just so that the citizens know, neighboring Greece allocates 0.26 percent, France allocates 0.2 percent, let's go a step further - Germany allocates 0.3 percent, and the European average is 0.31 percent of the GDP, while the median is 0.28 percent. We allocate more than both the median and the European average, or in numbers, more than 75 percent than the EU member states," PM Mickoski pointed out. 

The PM made a comparison with other countries aspiring to join the EU that allocate a smaller budget than Macedonia, i.e. Albania 0.295 percent, Moldova 0.35 percent, Georgia 0.23 percent, etc.  

"The law says up to 0.8 percent. The new amendments to the law say a minimum of 0.8 percent and a minimum of 0.5 percent for the Prosecutor's Office, i.e. a total of 1.3 percent, which is out of the question, because it would be three times more than the country that allocates the most for the judiciary in Europe. According to the European report, a beginner judge earns a gross salary of EUR 19,170 per year, for Slovenia, according to the same report, a beginner judge earns a gross salary of EUR 34,101 or somewhere around 80 percent more, while the GDP for Macedonia is somewhere around EUR 6.5 thousand, and for Slovenia it is EUR 28,000. In mathematical terms, a beginner judge in Slovenia has an 80 percent higher gross salary than a beginner judge in Macedonia, with a GDP three and a half times higher than the one we have. Where is the proportion here," said PM Mickoski. 

Mickoski noted that a president of a court in the country receives a salary of about Mden 180,000, i.e. about EUR 3,000, while his salary as Prime Minister was Mden 155,000.

"The budget for courts in the region - Albania 0.17 percent of GDP, our country 0.30 percent, Moldova as frontrunners who are advancing towards the EU 0.18 percent, and Georgia 0.15 percent. This shows that the budget the Government allocates for the judicial system is higher than 75 percent of the member states of the European Union, and I do not see a need to increase that amount," said PM Mickoski.

Mickoski added that the Government does not interfere in the judiciary, however the Government is responsible for the spending of every penny of public money "and when that money is spent by a state administration body, it is logical that the state takes care of it."

"I do not see the need to increase the budget when even the report from the Council of Europe itself states that the budget we allocate is higher as a percentage of GDP than 75 percent of the EU member states. And I want to point out, in the past we have had experiments when prosecutors received salaries ten times higher than what their colleagues in the SPO [Special Prosecutor's Office] received, and you know how they ended up with 'Louis Vuitton bags' - with tens of thousands, I would say hundreds of thousands of euros, and we see how justice failed there," Mickoski said. 

As regards what the Government has done in terms of the fight against crime and corruption, Mickoski said that unlike before, investigations are now being launched, and criminal charges are being filed with the judicial authorities.

"A supreme judge was caught red-handed taking a bribe. In that case, a former high-ranking official in the Prosecutor's Office and a member of the Council of Public Prosecutors at the time was also involved, something that was impossible in the past. Criminal charges were filed for many cases in the previous government, investigations have been opened, court processes have been started. We have a director in a health institution who was caught taking a bribe and was detained. We have a director who is part of the VMRO-DPMNE structure who was also caught taking a bribe and is now detained, etc.," the PM pointed out. 

Mickoski highlighted that prosecutors and judges had not seized the opportunity to deliver justice, noting that in all surveys conducted, the judiciary and the prosecution have the least trust from the citizens.

"We said from day one that we would not make a show out of anything, but we would fight crime and corruption, and that is what we do. We said that we would give a chance, but they did not seize that chance. Is there any citizen in the country who thinks that these members of the judicial council and prosecutors are credible figures in the fight against crime and corruption? I don't think so, and the numbers show that. In any survey conducted, you will see that citizens have the least trust in prosecutors and judges," Mickoski stressed.

Photo: Government