Inspectorate stops Kumanovo’s €1.6m borrowing procedure after finding legal breaches
State Inspectorate found procedural irregularities and will prepare a decision to suspend the municipal act; the council approved a 100,000,000 denar loan on July 4, 2026.
The State Inspectorate for Local Self-Government has halted the implementation of Kumanovo Municipality's decision to begin long-term borrowing of 100,000,000 denars (about €1.6 million), after finding that the procedure was not carried out in accordance with the law, the Inspectorate said in an extraordinary inspection report dated 04.08.2026.
On July 4, 2026 the municipal council voted to start the borrowing procedure from commercial banks to purchase trucks for the public enterprise "Chistota i zelenilo" and to install photovoltaic systems for the public enterprise "Vodovod." The proposal was approved with 16 votes in favor, five against and one abstention. The motion was backed by councilors from ZNAM, the VMRO-DPMNE coalition and VREDI.
Councilors from the SDSM coalition had filed a formal request asking the Inspectorate and the State Administration Inspectorate to check whether a public debate was held and whether the financing conditions required by Article 20(2) of the Law on Financing of Units of Local Self-Government were fulfilled before the decision on long-term borrowing was adopted.
Inspectorate decision and political reactions
"Following an extraordinary inspection, the State Inspectorate for Local Self-Government determined irregularities in the work of the supervisory body, namely the Council of Kumanovo Municipality, specifically that the adopted act is not in accordance with Article 20 of the Law on Financing of Units of Local Self-Government, and because of this non-compliance the Inspectorate will prepare a decision to suspend the application of the act," said Tomica Ilic, coordinator of the coalition's council group, at a press conference.
Ilic said the Inspectorate will forward an initiative to the Constitutional Court to determine legal conformity, and expressed confidence that the Court will confirm what the opposition had been requesting. He added: "The ruling majority did not heed the illegality in the procedure, which raises the question whether they knowingly acted against the law for other purposes, because the amount of 100,000,000 denars and the way they rejected all our objections open serious suspicion about the majority's intentions." He also announced that the opposition will demand moral and political responsibility and will file misdemeanor and criminal complaints against the council president Ivana Gjorgievska and the mayor for allowing and signing a decision they consider unlawful.
The Municipality of Kumanovo rejected the Inspectorate's findings as a mistaken legal interpretation. In a written response the mayor, Maxim Dimitrievski, said: "The findings of the State Inspector for Local Self-Government, contained in Record IP1 no. 21-702 dated 04.08.2026, are completely unfounded and stem from a one-sided and literal interpretation of the law, which is directly contrary to other applicable legal provisions and to the logic of the procedure. For that reason, Kumanovo Municipality, within the legally prescribed deadline, will submit a detailed and reasoned objection against the stated record, in accordance with Article 22 of the Law on the State Inspectorate for Local Self-Government. We are convinced of the correctness of our procedure and are ready to prove it before all competent institutions, including the Constitutional Court, should the Inspectorate, guided by political motives, persist in its intention."
The municipality argues that long-term borrowing is a multi-phase process: the council's vote was only an initial step that must be followed by consent from the Ministry of Finance and concrete offers from commercial banks, after which a public debate would take place. City officials described the opposition's complaint as a politically motivated attempt to block the "Eco-efficient public enterprises" project and to hinder Kumanovo's development.
The borrowing proposal coincided with the termination of free public transport on July 1, 2026, a measure that lasted three and a half years and cost the municipality about €4 million. Opposition councilors say those funds were wasted and point to unresolved problems in several municipal services as the reason for their strong objections to the loan plan.
Photo: СДК.МК)
