Skopje, 21 August 2025 (MIA) – Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reacted to the indictment against Tatjana Dimitrievska, the anti-corruption commission member, and to the no confidence votes against members of the Judicial Council and the state public prosecutor warning that these developments would affect international reports on the country.

Asked on Thursday whether these developments might affect public trust in the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) as well as international reports covering the judicial system, Mickoski reiterated that a sweeping action is needed to identify any accountability.

“We, the government, have been warning about it for 14 months regarding the work of the anti-corruption commission and the work of the Judicial Council and the public prosecution’s office. But, when we react, we are noted in reports as exerting political pressure. Despite all the political risk it carries, after the local elections, a sweeping action will be needed and all those who have reduced the judiciary to having 2-percent public trust should step down and held accountable if they had committed any wrongdoing,” Mickoski said responding to reporters’ questions after overseeing works for the construction of a kindergarten in Skopje’s Drachevo.

Rule of law can be strengthened only with active intervention in the system, according to him.

“If you are on the sidelines, then there’s no rule of law; if you are engaged in the process, then you’re exerting pressure – there’s no way to win. It’s better, once and for all, to remove all these installations in our judicial system and to pick competent people to serve as prorectors of justice,” the PM stressed. 

As regards the procedure to dismiss the Chief State Public Prosecutor, Ljupcho Kocevski, Mickoski said the government’s position remains unchanged. 

We don’t change positions overnight, he stressed. 

Anti-corruption commission head Tatjana Dimitrievski has been charged with leaking confidential information in a case dubbed Additive, which looks into suspicious procurements of additives for two power plants. Also, she was charged after it emerged that another individual had passed a test in her stead to be issued security clearance.

In the meantime, five Judicial Council members and State Prosecutor Ljupcho Kocevski lost no confidence votes in Parliament. Kocevski had been accused of selective justice, in particular involving the investigation in the deadly fire in Kochani in March, which killed 62 people.

MIA file photo