Public Administration Minister Damjan Mancevski underscored a threat from Zoran Zaev that the Government will begin to fire public sector employees.

Zaev promised a purge of his own corrupt officials in the Government in an attempt to get back in the good graces of the public, but at the same time began promising to fire public sector employees he suspects of belonging to other parties and presumably divide their seats to SDSM loyalists. Mancevski publicly defended the practice of nepotistic hiring and hiring of SDSM loyalists in the public sector, and now he insists that the public administration will have to be purged.

We can’t maintain the status quo situation in the public administration. We are a social-democratic, leftist Government and we promise not to leave people on the street. But it is impossible to carry on as it is, Mancevski said.

One way to purge the public administration of Zaev’s perceived political opponents is to force them into the private sector. This is the approach Mancevski has promoted.