Skopje, 29 April 2026 (MIA) - The European Parliament’s Rapporteur on Macedonia, Thomas Waitz was so clear yesterday that he left no room for interpretation. He gave very precise statements clearly saying the Government is implementing reforms. And the Government will continue to implement reforms, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told journalists on Wednesday.

Asked to respond to criticism by the opposition regarding a statement by Waitz on reforms, and in relation to the IPARD funds which were officially unblocked on Tuesday, Mickoski said SDSM has continuously been leading a policy and PR strategy of spreading lies. “This,” he said, “is a political party which at this moment is not fighting for the citizens, but for its leadership. Therefore, any statement coming from there should be taken with reserve”.

The Prime Minister stressed the Government would continue with reforms and deliver everything it has promised, however, he added, it will never accept anything that would harm the citizens’ living standard.

“SDSM has been continuously leading a policy and PR strategy of spreading lies. But even those that believe them at the moment, stop believing them over time. I would like to remind you – they were saying we would go bankrupt, we didn’t. On the contrary, wages went up, collective agreements were upheld and so on. What happened to the story with the migrants? April has passed and there are no migrants. They were saying the IPARD funds are blocked, it’s over, we are bankrupt. But here we have the European Commission saying ‘well done to the Government, it reacted fast and unblocked the process within six months’. The process has been unblocked in six months due to the fast, robust reaction of the Government. They also interpreted Waitz’s statement in their own way. Then the man showed up yesterday, and very clearly said what he had to say.” Mickoski said after a session of the Public Investment Committee.

The Prime Minister said the Government knows exactly what it is doing and what its priorities are. He said there are around ten steps that have to be implemented by the end of June, two or three of which won’t be implemented because, according to Mickoski, they would result in electricity bills higher by 30-40 percent among other things.

“We are working on all these projects. Some of them require changes to the legislation. The Law on Weapons concerning hunting was approved at a session of Government yesterday. There are projects we are pushing, and they require time, they need to pass through Parliament, but be certain that we will do everything that will add value to the quality of the lives of the citizens. We won’t accept anything that harms the citizens, their wallets, and their standards,” Mickoski underscored.

Mickoski added that at a session Tuesday, the Government also discussed the recent judgements of the European Court for Human Rights, which, he stressed, are a very significant challenge since the state might have to pay over a billion euro.

“This is a much, much larger challenge than the one with the solidarity tax. So, there are a lot of challenges and issues, but we won’t give up, we will fight,” Mickoski said.

Photo: MIA