VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski held a press conference on the 4th anniversary of the forming of the first Zaev Government, in which he named the biggest failures and defeats of the past four years. “These were four lost years for our lives, four years of emptying the pockets of our citizens and of replacing justice with injustice”, Mickoski said, while naming the name change, the “trades done with our name, identity, history, our nation and our heroes” as the biggest failures of the Zaev regime.

In the economic area, Mickoski reminded the public that Zaev promised a 5 percent GDP growth rate each year. “In reality, since 2017 and ending with 2020, the average growth rate was just 0.7 percent. The GDP grew by just 700 million EUR, while our debt is 1.7 billion EUR higher”, Mickoski said, accusing Zaev of scaring off dozens of potential investors with the criminal activities and with the announcements of higher, progressive taxes. Foreign investments in 2020 amounted to just 1.9 percent of GDP, while neighboring couintries beat Macedonia by a magnitude of between 2 and 6. “And now Zaev promises eight billion EUR in investments and the arrival of companies like Facebook, Google and Volkswagen. This will again end up as an empty promise”.

Regarding justice, Mickoski called out the most corrupt officials of the Zaev regime.

People like Den Doncev, Vice and Trajce Zaev, VAsko Kovacevski, Aleksandar Kiracovski, Ljupco Nikolovski… They are not the cause of the crime, they are the consequence of Zaev’s crimes. Tey are just servants of Zaev in his criminal endeavours, Mickoski said.

In the energy sector, Mickoski named the false promises that two huge dams will be built on the Crna River (Cebren and Galiste), and that new coal mines will be opened in Oslomej.

They promised 600 kilometers of new highways, 550 kilometers of regional roads and 1,000 kilometes of local roads. What is the reality? The Skopje – Blace highway of full two kilometers is not even in its initial stage four years later. The Ohrid – Kicevo highway was inflated in price from 411 to 800 million EUR and there is no work on the ground. Former Minister Sugareski said that the highway will be finished by 2019. The German company Wibe abandoned construction on the Kumanovo – Kriva Palanka railway. Nothing came of the promise for a high-speed railway link from Kumanovo to Gevgelija, Mickoski added.

And one of the biggest failures he named is the mishandling of the coronavirus crisis. “We rank sixth in the world in deaths per capita and first in the Balkans in infections. We are ranked worst in Europe in healthcare investment during the pandemic, Mickoski said.