Skopje, 16 March 2025 (MIA) — The government is not going to declare a state of emergency and there are no plans to involve international forensics in the Kochani nightclub fire investigation, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told a press conference Sunday evening.

"We can do this ourselves," he said in response to a reporter's question.

Asked about the moral dimension of the case, PM Mickoski said everyone should feel responsible.

"Eight months, almost nine months now, I have been working as much as I can to defeat this corrupt system and there is no dilemma for me. Should a person feel moral responsibility? Yes, we should all feel moral responsibility," he said.

"Should I, alone, feel it? If need be, I'll accept that. Let the entire moral responsibility fall on me. But first I will defeat this system. That is, things will be put right," he added.

Mickoski pledged that "all we have started today will bear fruit."

"Then," he said, "there will be no greater judgement than the judgement of voters saying who it is that should bear the moral responsibility."

The prime minister told the press conference that 47 people with burns had been sent for medical treatment in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Turkey, adding that Croatia, Austria and the Netherlands had also offered their help. He also said he had talked to almost all of his European counterparts earlier Sunday. 

Answering a reporter's question regarding corruption, Mickoski said "many other things that are truly catastrophic and alarming" would come to light.

"The fact that someone forged permits for money is the least of our problems," he said, adding that he did not think this was the only forged nightclub licence. He said there may be hundreds or thousands of such instances. mr/