The UPOZ union, which represent the public administration, condemned the statement from Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who blamed the dismal situation with corruption in Macedonia on the low level public officials. This was Zaev’s defense after the latest US State Department investment report noted that Macedonia has a growing problem with corruption – Zaev claimed that the top of his Government is clean, but that clerks are corrupt and drag the country down.

Corruption can’t be located in just one segment of the administration, as Prime Minister Zaev believes, without naming its correlation with the top of the Government. We in UPOZ think that corruption is a serious issue for all employees and ask the Government to join us in fighting it, the union said.

Another union, KSS, issued a similar statement, stating that Zaev “is manipulating with the public” and putting the public administration under strong pressure of public condemnation.