English
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, who is on a visit to the United States, gave an exclusive interview to MIA from Washington about cooperation with the US, the gas pipeline and data centers, as well as relations with Bulgaria. In the interview, Prime Minister Mickoski stresses that Macedonia is a top US priority in the region, that the United States and this government see each other as close friends, and that they are discussing major energy and infrastructure projects. What pleases me is the fact that the United States and the current administration of President Trump see Macedonia and this government as a close friend — not only in the region, but in Europe as well — and that their support remains unchanged, not only when it comes to the NATO alliance, but also in the economy and in potential US investments in Macedonia,” Prime Minister Mickoski says. As for relations with Bulgaria, he notes that the topic is unavoidable and is, of course, being discussed, especially with people from the Council and the Commission.“ Of course we discuss that topic. I am not one of those people who act rashly in politics. I am aware of the reality, and I am aware of the mistaken policy of the past, of previous governments. On the other hand, the expectations of some radical elements in our structure that we should withdraw from international agreements and negotiations — that would be ideal if we were alone in this world. But we are not alone, and we have to fight to recover the positions that were lost in the past, which, unfortunately, the previous government undermined,” Mickoski says. He adds that, as part of that fight, they always present arguments that are clearly and methodically understandable to their counterparts.“We are prepared to argue our case. We are prepared, if the other side’s arguments overcome ours, to accept them. We are not being stubborn. We are not hard-headed. But our goal is to present our strategy and our truth in the best possible way, and through political debate — a political struggle on the international stage — to recover some of the positions that previous governments lost for us,” Prime Minister Mickoski says. On data centers, he says the economy is changing irreversibly, stressing that the country must build high-standard data centers with air and freon cooling. As for the gas pipeline, he says the country will have 12 times greater capacity for investment in gas-fired power plants that would produce electricity, which would then be used in data centers, from which opportunities in artificial intelligence would be drawn. An investor is also being sought for Chebren and Galishte hydro plants. Talks have already been held at DFC with Caroline Vic, and interest is enormous.
Prime Minister Mickoski, in Washington you met with several members of Congress who, ahead of your visit, organized a debate with State Department representatives on the Balkans. In that debate, most countries were assessed in the context of nationalist tensions and the glorification of war criminals, while Macedonia was singled out, with positive discussion of the construction of strategically important infrastructure and military cooperation. How do you assess cooperation with the United States, with the Trump administration, and their policy toward us and the region?
Not only with these interlocutors — we used the visit for meetings with various structures in Washington, with think tanks and financial corporations, to reaffirm once again our commitment and also to confirm the strategic partnership our country has with the United States. What pleases me is that the United States and the current administration of President Trump see Macedonia and this government as a close friend, not only in the region but in Europe as well. Their support for us remains unchanged, not only regarding the NATO alliance, but also in the economy and in potential US investments in Macedonia. Here I would especially single out the approach with DFC, the Development Finance Corporation, where I met with Caroline Vic, who is effectively responsible for development and investment around the world. The financial portfolio is around $200 billion. We discussed possible financing of Chebren and Galishte, as well as other infrastructure, energy, and data investments that the government would make, and also private investments that could come from America to Macedonia. So if all of this is analyzed, I would not pass judgment on the focus through which the Trump administration views the region, but rather on the lens through which it views Macedonia. I think it views us through the closest lens, that we are a top priority in the region, and I believe that in the years ahead this strategic partnership will produce many capital projects of historic importance.
One such initiative has already been announced — the antimony mine in Kriva Palanka.
There they are present through a $5 million PD grant for development of the project in Krstov Dol, in the area of Luke, in the Palanka region, but that is only the beginning. I say that, based on the conversation I had at DFC with Caroline Vic, the interest is enormous. Our goal as a government is to secure financing for the Chebren and Galishte project. There is interest on their side. The same project was presented. We established a communication channel between the government and DFC, and that is good. When it comes to strategic and critical infrastructure, there are the gas pipelines we are building, the highways, Corridor 8 and Corridor 10-d, the railway that will be modernized as part of Corridor 10, and the railway we are building as part of Corridor 8.
The American side is quite interested in the gas pipeline through which the US would become a serious supplier of LNG to the region. What would our geopolitical position be as a country through which, for the first time, a gas pipeline would pass to supply other countries, and what capacities and industries could be developed on the basis of this pipeline?
The purpose of that pipeline needs to be explained more clearly to the public. The liquefied natural gas terminal known as the LNG terminal in Greece — Alexandroupolis — needs to be connected with Central Europe in order to compete with South Stream. The capacity is around 3 billion cubic meters, and if the pressure is increased it can reach 6 billion. What makes it specific is that the pipeline is bidirectional. Until now, as a country, we had only one one-way entry point — Zhidilovo — with a capacity of around 800 million cubic meters, or 1.2 billion with increased pressure. That means the gas capacity we could use tomorrow in Macedonia with the construction of this pipeline is dramatically increased. But to be on the transit route, which is in fact our goal and ambition, we also have to complete the northern interconnector that will connect us with neighboring Serbia. That one will also be bidirectional. So when we finish these two projects, which I expect will be by the end of 2028, the country’s geostrategic position will be completely different. At the moment we as a country consume around half a billion cubic meters a year. That means we will have 12 times greater capacity for investment in gas-fired power plants that would produce electricity, which would then be used in data centers, and from them we would draw opportunities for artificial intelligence. That is a serious plan for the country’s development and for where Macedonia should be heading in the future.The bottleneck is the high-voltage electricity transmission networks. We are excellently connected with our northern and southern neighbors by 400 kV transmission lines. We are also excellently connected with our eastern neighbor — one 400 kV line and two parallel 110 kV lines — and we are now building the project that will connect us with our western neighbor, again with a 400 kV line. With that we will literally be an energy crossroads when it comes to high-voltage electricity transmission. All of these projects are critical infrastructure. All of them increase resilience in the region, security, and they are very important for NATO’s eastern flank. As a country, we can use our now stronger geostrategic position and extract benefit from all of this for the citizens, and develop economically faster. That is the essence, and that is the priority of this government.
You mentioned data centers. There is also criticism in Macedonia that the centers cause a lot of noise and consume water. You recently said you are in talks on developing such centers with Chris Pavlovski’s company Rumble, which recently signed a major deal in the AI industry. Are you talking with other companies as well, and what could local communities and the economy as a whole expect from the construction of these centers?
This is an irreversible process. Humanity will move in that direction. Anyone who has doubts here does not have their own country’s best interests at heart. The question is how to channel this process and extract the maximum from it. You mentioned Chris Pavlovski and Rumble — they have now made an acquisition, bought a company in Germany, and are now a company worth around $5 billion. That is a serious group that is developing seriously. Yes, we are talking with him. Among other things, we are talking with five other companies as well. Everyone who does not understand high technology talks about noise and water cooling. We now have both air cooling and freon cooling, so I regret that there are still political forces and elements here who are trying to take us back to the 19th or early 20th century, thinking that in that way, through emotion, they will attract attention. But I think they are political losers and will be defeated, because Macedonian citizens want to see the country move forward.This government has a clear plan that can be explained on one page. In life, and in politics, the most important thing is what you can say in few words, what you can explain simply so that people understand you. What is the main goal of this government? Economic development based on three pillars: infrastructure — road and rail; energy infrastructure, generation capacity, and transmission systems; and third, high technology, including data centers, as well as diversification of the processing industry, because most of our foreign investors who came between 2008 and 2012 are in the automotive industry. Things there are changing, and we are working to diversify that portfolio. This is practically the strategy of this government, and everything we do is in that direction — how to accelerate economic development. Because we will no longer be able to service labor-intensive industry in the future; we have less and less labor. We need high-tech industry with high added value, with which we will increase GDP and raise citizens’ living standards. This process will not happen in one term. This is a process that should last two, three, four terms. I am not saying this government will last that long, nor am I claiming that I should remain prime minister that long. But in essence this should be a national strategy for how the country should develop. This process is irreversible. Humanity is moving forward, and in fact today, without artificial intelligence and some data centers that already operate somewhere, we cannot even make a mobile phone call.
Could the government guarantee that the centers being discussed would be of a new type, with a closed-loop cooling system that does not consume much water?
Absolutely.
For these economic strategies to work, trade agreements are needed. Is there anything new on that front with the United States?
We have defined the framework. The terms are set. What remains is the formal signing between our Foreign Ministry and their trade representative and their government. The framework has been agreed, and the terms are already functioning. We truly have the best conditions in the region.
The opposition has criticized the decision to reduce part of the military assistance for four European countries, including us, as well as for South and Central America. How significant is that in your view?
We are one of the largest beneficiaries of military assistance from the United States. This decision has another motive, which I would of course not discuss now. But our cooperation within the defense industry and the assistance we receive from the US remains and will deepen.
A large part of your discussion at the Atlantic Council in Washington was on the subject of Bulgaria. Are certain meetings and talks on that front expected in New York?
Of course, when we talk with our European partners, especially with people from the Council and the Commission, with President Costa, with High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, and we also have regional events in which I will take part in the multilateral format, that topic is unavoidable. Of course we discuss it. I am not one of those people who act rashly in politics. I am aware of the reality, and I am aware of the mistaken policy of the past, of previous governments. On the other hand, the expectations of some radical elements in our structure that we should withdraw from international agreements and negotiations — that would be ideal if we were alone in this world. But we are not alone, and we have to fight to recover the positions that were lost in the past, which, unfortunately, the previous government undermined. So within that fight we always present arguments that are clearly and methodically understandable to our counterparts. We are prepared to argue our case. We are prepared, if the other side’s arguments overcome ours, to accept them. We are not being stubborn. We are not hard-headed. But our goal is to present our strategy and our truth in the best possible way, and through political debate — a political struggle on the international stage — to recover some of the positions that previous governments lost for us. I think we are attracting attention and are already seriously in the sights of our partners, especially in Europe. We are looking for solutions. I will never enter a process without having a predictable end. In my view, to get to such a process, trust first has to be built, and for that we have to talk. That willingness has to exist on both sides. This is a two-way street; it cannot come from one side only. We will conduct the process in parallel. We are prepared to talk about aligning the action plan on minorities, of course in the presence of the international community, because if we conduct a dialogue only with our eastern neighbor, that confirms what we say — that it is a bilateral issue. I fear that such a dialogue would be a dialogue of people who may not succeed in hearing each other properly. That is why I believe someone else is needed at the table. Let that be, perhaps, a representative from the European Union. We continue to deliver the reforms that are part of the Growth Plan, the Reform Agenda. We are following political developments in Europe — the recent referendum in Iceland, the regional elections in Germany, the presidential elections coming in France. It is dynamic; it is dynamic everywhere in the world. In these challenges we have to find our chance as well, and that is what we are doing. In fact, we are looking for that chance, and all the results that are coming in — 4.3 percent GDP growth in the second quarter, growth in industrial production, growth in tourism, controlled inflation two to two and a half percent lower than the level in the European Union — all of these are indicators that after these 26–27 months of work as a government, results are finally coming, and from a deep minus, from a completely collapsed, humiliated, looted, belittled state, we are coming to a state of zero. I cannot say we have gone who-knows-how-far upward, but we are at a zero from which we now have to start building upward.
In recent days there has been talk of some kind of associate EU membership even for Canada, of the kind previously raised by Vučić and Rama. Some are also talking about Scotland and Wales.
I would not go into that kind of discussion now. That is all just brainstorming, an exchange of ideas. For something to enter into force and actually work, it would require a change to the EU’s own treaty. The world is definitely changing, and it is changing at great speed. Interests are being repositioned, and I believe that in such a multipolar world we — I will say again, as a relatively small country, not very significant in terms of territorial size, but significant as a location, especially in this part of the world — have to find our chance. And I think we are finding it. The outlines are being drawn.