Skopje, 19 April 2026 (MIA) – SDSM leader Venko Filipche said citizens are paying the price for what he called the fairy tales and incompetence of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, noting SDSM had called for measures two months ago. Speaking at a press conference, he said SDSM had called for concrete measures two months ago, right after the outbreak of the Middle East crisis. He criticized the return of VAT on diesel to 18 percent as especially problematic, calling it the scrapping of a social measure that will further affect citizens.

“Citizens today live in a sinking economy, with a difficult daily life, with prices in stores rising uncontrollably, with the lowest standard of living in Europe and with young people leaving the country,” Filipche said.

He noted that at the very start of the crisis SDSM had proposed a package of measures including reducing VAT on fuel to five percent, abolishing VAT on basic food products and cutting excise taxes by four denars.

According to him, the government and its coalition partners rejected all draft laws proposed by SDSM, while some of the measures later introduced were, as he said, partial and are now being scrapped. Filipche said this is happening too late, at a time when prices of almost all products are high.

SDSM leader said that compared to Macedonia, other European countries are taking measures to protect citizens and reduce inflation and rising energy prices.

To support his claims, he stated that foreign investment has declined by 60 percent, that both local and foreign companies are closing, and that roughly 1,500 people have become unemployed in the past year and a half. He added that the budget deficit is growing and that the state owes about €160 million in VAT refunds to companies.

Filipche said in the political part of his address that Prime Minister Mickoski is acting in a manner he described as uncharacteristic of a democratic country, accusing him of using insults, exerting pressure and issuing open threats to the opposition.

Photo: screenshot