Skopje, 8 March 2026 (MIA) – VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski stated recently the country was exposed to an opposition campaign claiming that an agreement was being made to accept migrants from the United Kingdom, which was denied yesterday by the British diplomatic authorities. He emphasized that this disproves the entire narrative that the opposition SDSM and its leader Venko Filipche have been trying to impose on the public for months, accusing them of pursuing a manipulative policy. Mickoski underlined that this represents a deeply destructive and potentially dangerous pattern of behavior by Venko Filipche.

“Over the past months, the Macedonian public has been exposed to a persistent, aggressive campaign alleging that the country was secretly arranging to accept migrants from the United Kingdom. The thesis claimed that behind the strategic partnership between Macedonia and the UK there existed an alleged “secret deal.” Repeatedly and shamelessly, the impression was fostered that the government was hiding something from the citizens. Fear was spread that Macedonia would turn into a migrant camp. The claim was repeated daily, at press conferences, in statements, and treated as fact. Protests were also announced. Yesterday we received a clear and unequivocal response from the British diplomatic authorities. British Ambassador Matthew Lawson publicly and unambiguously stated: no such agreement exists and never has. There is no agreement. No negotiations. No migrant centers. The facts are clear,” PM Mickoski said during Sunday’s press conference.

“With this,” he added, “the entire narrative that the opposition has been trying to impose on the public for months collapses.”

“For months, a story was circulated without a single document, without any evidence, without any official confirmation. There were only speculations. Only sensationalism. And a political desire to create panic among citizens. Today, when the truth is clear and the denial has come, it becomes evident that the public was subjected to a shameless political construct,” he noted.

The problem, he said, is much bigger than this particular issue, because, as he emphasized, this is not an isolated case.

“This is a deeply destructive and potentially dangerous pattern of behavior by Venko Filipche. We see the same scheme repeating: first a sensationalist story is fabricated, then media panic is created, and when the facts expose the story, the topic simply disappears. No apology. No accountability. Only a shift to the next construction. We have seen this in other cases as well. We saw it when panic was created that institutions were allegedly silent about the seized drugs in Serbia. There were claims of cover-ups and scandals even before the facts were established. Later it was shown that the institutions had been working on the case from the very beginning. We also saw it when apocalyptic numbers were circulated about the wildfires, claiming that the state was destroyed, giving the impression that North Macedonia was in a catastrophic state. It later turned out that the numbers were completely different. We saw it again when it was claimed that there were no funds for pensions and that the government had failed to provide for pensioners,” Mickoski said.

Mickoski said that SDSM is persistent in its destructive model of “kidnapping” Macedonia to save itself.

“Today, SDSM has turned into a pale copy of itself and a factory for creating political panic. And I know they will not apologize; I know they will continue as before. I find it easiest to follow Napoleon’s rule, which says, ‘never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake,’ but we need a serious and strong opposition, not this privatized, business-oriented opposition with problems of morality and keeping one’s word,” Mickoski said.

He also reacted to what he called the exploitation of the tragic case in Karposh for daily political purposes.

“Ahead of March 8 – International Women’s Day, the president of the SDSM Women’s Forum held a press conference where the tragedy in Karposh, in which a mother and her underage daughter lost their lives, was used as a pretext for daily political attacks. No one in this country has the right to turn the human pain and tragedy of a family into a stage for political points, especially not on days when society should be speaking about dignity, safety, and respect for women. The way SDSM officials have been acting publicly in recent times increasingly resembles a closed sectarian circle,” he said.

He emphasized that they are seriously concerned about the situation in SDSM and its leadership.

“Instead of arguments, we see nervousness. Instead of politics, we see panic. Instead of responsibility, we see desperate attempts to turn tragedies into a political platform. The fear of political reality and accountability for the situations they have left behind evidently drives them into a state of confusion,” Mickoski said.

Aware, as he noted, of the seriousness of the challenges, he stressed that we are living in uncertain, turbulent, difficult, challenging, and perhaps even historic times, and he thanked the citizens for their support and for rejecting these hysterical attempts by the opposition SDSM to create panic.

Photo: MIA