In a TV interview, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski claimed that the Government has actually improved living standards, as it is reducing electricity and gas bills by almost 70 EUR a month per household.

Kovacevski is referring to the moves to reduce the gas tax and to transfer a portion of the electricity bills onto the central budget, where the payments remain out of sight for the consumers. Up to 80 percent of the hugely increased electricity cost is covered by the central budget, through direct transfers to the ESM/ELEM company for costly imports.

I said it won’t be easy, this is the most responsible role a man can have. We are in a crisis and a man has to think of his family, but I have to think of all of us. To the most vulnerable 35,000 we provided a 1,000 additional denars a month for food. We increased retirement incomes and the minimum wage. This is responsible governance, Kovacevski said.