Environmental activists from Strumica gathered in front of the Government today to demand that the approval for the Ilovica copper mine is revoked in full. The organizers from the Green Valley group claim that the Government is having it both ways with the mine that was supposed to be a major investment by the Canadian Euromax Resources company.
The approval is not withdrawn yet. It is one signature away, Minister Bektesi proposed that it’s sent before the Government but that hasn’t been done yet. We’ve been fighting this battle for three years and we demand to preserve our clean environment in which we live in and from where we feed all of Macedonia. There is bribery going on, the company is trying to persuade people, is promising high wages and an environmentally friendly mine, but they will pour thousands of tons of poison onto our land, said Stojan Velkov.
The currently ruling SDSM party was supportive of the green leftist movements that protested against the mine and staged local referendums to stop it from going ahead. After assuming power, the now outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Zaev who comes from Strumica noticeably changed his tone and pointed that the company has a legal permit to work on the mine. Eventually, he endorsed the demands to close it down, but the environmentalists say that the procedure is being dragged out and with Zaev set to resign on January 3rd, it may end up being postponed.
Former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, on the other hand, warned that if the permit is revoked, Macedonia may face penalties that will bankrupt the country.
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