Health inspectors fined First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi 500 EUR for allowing a birthday celebration for his DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti to take place without masks.

The event happened earlier this week as Grubi was moving into a brand new office building, which will serve as the base for the greatly expanded department for implementation of the Ohrid peace treaty. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev attended the opening of the building, with a mask, and later the top DUI leadership gathered to celebrate with Ahmeti. Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi, ministers Fatmir Besimi, Bujar Osmani, Nuri Nuredini and other party leaders were present.

They were initially given minor fines for not wearing masks, but now Grubi will receive a somewhat more serious fine, because he is the head of the department where the event took place. The incident caused outrage as “common citizens”, not to mention businesses, keep getting fined every day.