SDSM policies and their handling of the crises is disastrously bad, said VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski during a conference in Skopje organized by the Swedish conservative Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation.

We were the first to have testing problems during the Covid crisis and the last to obtain vaccines. During the summer, we had to beg foreigners to come and help us fight our forest fires. Now we are failing at managing the energy crisis, which we warned about. We are setting records in the region in budget deficit and we are entering stagflation, with double digit inflation and a stagnant economy. This all affects living standards, Mickoski said.

The opposition leader said that if corruption in the Government is curbed, there will be funds left over to turn the economy around. VMRO proposes a 20 percent increase in retirement incomes, to preserve living standards of the elderly, and aligning wages with the increase in the minimum wage – both proposals were rejected by the ruling SDSM – DUI coalition. Mickoski said that VMRO also proposes a much larger cut in the gas tax, by 50 percent, calling SDSM’s attempts to curb the energy price hikes insufficient.