Prime Minister Zoran Zaev insisted that the racketeering scandal, which brought down Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva and is expanding toward top Government officials, is actually a positive development for Macedonia regarding its hope to open EU accession talks.

As Prime Minister I frequently meet with EU statesmen or their ambassadors in our country and I can tell you that with the Racket case, “North” Macedonia is scoring points. We have an independent investigation, the Prime Minister reported the case, a prosecutor is in prison. It all shows that the judiciary is freed from politics and that for “North” Macedonia it is an additional point in our favor, which the EU sees and values as part of our reform effort. It is a good reason that we are given a date to open accession talks in October, as was promised, Zaev said in an interview with the Sitel TV.

The EU insisted that a Special Prosecutor is appointed to investigate corruption allegations, and strongly supported Katica Janeva, only to realize that she was heavily abusing her office and was extorting millions from businessmen she was prosecuting. Prosecutors who are investigating Janeva have been extremely careful not to go after the many officials from Zaev’s SDSM party, who are also suspected of involvement in the scandal, have provided political backing to Janeva and her accessories and have been part of the money flow. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party demands an independent prosecutor who would conduct a serious investigation into the scandal.