350 million euros just for interest: Kuzeska announced accountability for "criminal tenders"

A state that pays 350 million euros in interest must show what citizens received from the debt. With this message Bogdanka Kuzeska, spokeswoman and member of the Executive Board of SDSM, launched a frontal attack on the Government's financial policy and announced political and institutional accountability for the way borrowed money is spent.

Kuzeska said that previous governments, despite the global financial crisis, the pandemic, the start of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, paid around 120 million euros in interest. Today, according to the figure presented by both the government and the opposition, the interest burden reaches 350 million euros.

Three times higher interest bill, without a project to justify it

For SDSM, this difference is proof that the Government is indebting the country without a clear developmental effect. Kuzeska claimed there are no serious capital projects, not enough money for measures, higher wages and pensions, and that future generations will repay obligations created today.

Her harshest accusation was that the loans are being used to siphon budget money through "criminal partisan tenders" and to fill private pockets. This is a political claim by Kuzeska for which no documents, final decisions or evidence for a specific tender were presented at the press conference. That is why responsibility is now twofold: SDSM must provide evidence for each concrete case, and the Government must fully open the contracts, beneficiaries and results of the spending.

Kuzeska assessed that the empty state coffers force the government into new borrowing of 1.3 billion euros, which, according to her calculation, brings total borrowing over two years to four billion euros. She warned that citizens pay the price through more expensive living, insufficient incomes and a lack of economic security.

Mickoski: We are paying the debts we inherited

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski responded that the current 350 million euros in interest are a consequence of debts inherited from the governments of SDSM and DUI. According to him, the new financing is needed to repay old debts and eurobonds, for capital investments and for current expenditures. He cited obligations of 700 million euros this year, 500 million in 2027 and 700 million in 2028.

He said that the clash of two opposing narratives must be settled with documents, not party slogans. If the Government is truly using the funds for old obligations and development projects, the public should receive a precise overview of each borrowing, the interest rate, the repayment term and the project being financed. If SDSM claims there are criminal tenders, then it must identify companies, contracts, amounts and possible conflicts of interest.

Kuzeska announced that a time will come when, she said, those responsible will be held accountable and the money will be returned to the citizens. Her message is politically strong, but the real test will be whether institutions receive concrete evidence and act on it.

In the meantime, one figure remains alarming regardless of partisan interpretation: 350 million euros in interest are funds that do not go directly to schools, hospitals, wages or new jobs. Therefore the public has the right to demand full accountability — not tomorrow, but for every borrowed and spent euro today.

Photo: frame from the SDSM press conference