After one and a half hours of waiting for the Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, to show up at a scheduled press conference, the reporters were informed to leave because he was otherwise occupied.

The topic of the press conference was Bekteshi’s report to the Government on all legal procedures related to the ore mine Ilovitsa-Shtuka since 2012.

The Ilovitsa-Shtuka issue is n the government’s agenda for Tuesday. Last week, Minister Bekteshi misled his Government colleagues to vote for merging the two separate concessions for the mine.

The two concessions for Ilovitsa-Shtuka mine were issued in 2012 by the former government of VMRO-DPMNE. The Administrative Court nullified the concessions in 2019. However, the Court rescinded its decision at the beginning of this year, shortly after the Ecolog company, one of DUI’largest sponsors, bought a big share in the company in possession of the concessions.

The local population is concerned about the environmental consequences and threatens radical behavior if the mine opens.