In an interview with Radio Free Europe, President Stevo Pendarovski dismissed claims that he approved the set of laws linked to the Bechtel highway contract in order to secure the support of the SDSM and DUI parties for a second term.

The laws are unpopular as they undermine worker protection laws on behalf of the powerful US company, but Pendarovski signed them anyway, as he faces uncertain support from SDSM and the DUI party – which negotiated the Bechtel deal – for the presidential elections in 2024.

The decrees to approve the laws are not linked to any other political or legal issue, Pendarovski responded when asked if he was forced to sign the laws by DUI. He insists that he secured changes to the most controversial law – the one on the extension of the work week.

Regarding the other burning issue Macedonia faces – the stalled EU integration and the Bulgarian demands for concessions, Pendarovski said that unfortunately the French initiative to reform the accession talks has failed and there is lack of motivation in the EU. “I would not want to see momentum to bring the Western Balkans to the EU only because there is war in Europe”, he added.