The chairman of the opposition party SDSM Venko Filipce assessed the European Commission's report on the country's progress towards the EU as the worst report in the last ten years and a worrying signal for the future and prospects for North Macedonia, BTA reported.
„The country is in a complete standstill, reforms are blocked, institutions are paralyzed, and the European path has been reduced to empty rhetoric. There is no progress in any area, even where there are technical activities, there are no results. Not only are we stagnating, but in some areas we are also going backwards. And this is not a problem of the EU. This means that there is a problem, this is a sign that the government has no will. Instead of keeping up with the advancing countries in the region, (North) Macedonia is in the group with Kosovo, Moldova, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina, far from the dynamics that Albania and Montenegro have,“, Venko Filipce said at a press conference.
The chairman of SDSM pointed out that according to the report, the country has made progress in only four areas, and in eight areas a complete standstill has been found, with the “dramatically low result in the economy, where stagnation and decline are registered” being particularly worrying.
“The reform program is not being implemented, the obligations have not been fulfilled, and the country is losing money from the EU. It is unacceptable not to have a budget for implementing reforms that are key to the European process. In the area of democracy and the rule of law - the constitutional changes that are key to starting negotiations (with the EU) are not even being considered, political polarization in parliament continues, blocking key reforms ... In the judicial system, independence remains undermined by political influences ... the fight against corruption is stagnant, there is no progress. Corruption is present in many areas and represents a serious problem ... Sixty percent of laws are adopted in a fast-track procedure, without public debates and communication with the expert community .... The budget deficit is larger than planned ... Key laws in the fields of environment and agriculture are missing. In the tax system, the delay in VAT recovery is worrying, "said Filipce, according to whom the government of North Macedonia "has neither the vision nor the capacity to lead the country forward."