English
In a TV interview, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reopened the issue of chief state prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski, and said that he requires his removal. Kocevski was appointed by the DUI – SDSM regime and, besides his share of blame for the chroncially low public standing of the judiciary, has recently been accused of involvement in the surveillance of Mickoski, other officials and journalists.
I am not satisfied with his work, and the public is not satisfied. The logical course of events is his removal. A large majority of the citizens, an enormous majority I would say, believe that he is not doing his job as he should. If I have to pay a political price and be criticized in the EU report for the funding of the judiciary, which is higher than in 75 percent of EU countries, then I think we need to stop and think about what we are doing, said the Prime Minister, who insisted during the local election campaign that the judiciary will be his chief focus after the elections. An earlier move to replace Kocevski was stopped after the Kocani nightclub disaster.
Mickoski compared spending on the judiciary as share of GDP in a number of European countries, such as Greece (0.26%), France (0.2%) and Germany (0.3%), with the European average at 0.31% of GDP. In Macedonia, this spending currently stands at 0.39% and the judges and prosecutors demand a major increase, up to 1.3% and want it set into a law that is presented as a “reform law” and part of the EU accession process.
Our budget for the judiciary is higher than the budgets of 75 percent of the EU member states. I see no need to increase this spending. A court president earns about 3,000 EUR per month, higher than my salary. I have no problem to improve the laws in the area of hiring and promotion, the Government will not interfere in the judiciary, but the Government is responsible for the spending of public funds, Mickoski said.
