Skopje, 24 January 2026 (MIA) - While some see Macedonia as a prize, as a territory to rule, we see it as our home, SDSM president Venko Filipche said at the opening of the party’s 31st congress in Skopje on Saturday.

“We offer something different, a higher level, a new approach. We must provide shelter from this madness. Our platform and program are a commitment to every citizen. We offer an economy of dignity, economic patriotism, an economic model in which the central figure is the person and their needs. An economic strategy that focuses on how the money you pay into the budget returns to you through higher wages, better education, improved healthcare, and higher pensions,” SDSM president Venko Filipche said.

Addressing those present, Filipche underlined that SDSM stands for not merely a basic salary, but a wage that ensures a dignified standard of living.

“A system where profit is allowed, but greed is taxed. Returning money to citizens, not through fake measures, but via systemic investments in all aspects of the services and benefits that citizens receive from the state. For young people, a state that is a digital hub, not an exporter of cheap labor or our creative young talent. If they can work for foreign companies, let them work here, from home, but under European conditions that we will guarantee. For pensioners, an end to election-time handouts, with guaranteed pension increases that track inflation, so they don’t have to choose between medicine and food. For workers, we will serve as a shield protecting them from the abuses of bosses that the current government protects. More than ever, we need a social state, and only SDSM can provide such a state,” Filipche said.

The open session of the SDSM congress has concluded, and the closed session for the public is underway.

Photo: MIA