Skopje, 4 February 2025 (MIA) - Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said certain structures, to strengthen their political power, intervened through staffing decisions at the prosecution and the judiciary, when quizzed by journalists Tuesday about last week’s incident at the Partizanski Odredi boulevard in Skopje in which 22-year-old Frosina Kulakova was killed by a drunk driver.

Asked about the discussion in Parliament initiated by the ruling coalition after last week’s incident, Mickoski stressed that issues should be solved systemically, “and not with ad-hoc solutions”.

“Everything that we are planning to propose as a parliamentary group, we will propose very soon. What I can say is that things should be solved systemically, and not with ad-hoc solutions. What happened is a result of ad-hoc solutions of things in a positive and negative direction. This example, unfortunately, in which a young life was lost, should be a wake-up call for all of us, those who should reflect on this the most are all those are all those who intervened with staffing decisions within the prosecution and the judiciary to strengthen their political power. This is something that should serve as a warning to us both now and in the generations to follow, because mistakes can sometimes be fatal,” Mickoski said.

Asked if the Government is planning to amend the Criminal Code, Mickoski said the option is being assessed.

“That option is being assessed, but also the alignment with the Report by the peer review mission submitted to the Ministry of Justice and within the framework of the European practice. Of course, we are thinking about this, it is also a condition for our ambition to be a part of the European family. These won’t be amendments to the Criminal Code adopted because we have some kind of political agreements with someone for the expiration of the statute of limitations or a pardon, instead they will be in the spirit of what the European Union and the negotiating process asks from us,” Mickoski said.

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