Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski: early elections would be a financial risk
The prime minister says securing €5 billion in the next two years makes early parliamentary elections irresponsible and risky for state liquidity.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Monday that his government is prioritising financial stability over short-term political gain and is not in favour of calling early parliamentary elections. He argued that an election process at this moment would push North Macedonia into serious fiscal danger and called an early vote an irresponsible step despite acknowledging it could be politically beneficial for the ruling parties.
Explaining the fiscal calculus, Mickoski stressed that the state must secure €5 billion over the next two years to cover debt repayments, refinance obligations, pay interest and close the budget gap. He warned that a caretaker government during that period could jeopardise liquidity and fiscal solvency.
"Six months of a caretaker government would take the country straight into bankruptcy"
“Next year we need to find 2.3 billion euros. Six months of a caretaker government would take the country straight into bankruptcy. And that caretaker government would be in the peak of the harshest winter, January and partly February. And in 2028 it is much easier, although then it is 2.7 billion euros. Then we can shift the claims into 2029, because only that year they failed to fill with a eurobond. We can move some of the obligations into 2029 and get through these two years when we need to secure liquidity of 5 billion euros,” Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said.
The stability of the governing coalition came under renewed scrutiny after ZNAM leader Maksim Dimitrievski warned his party could leave the government if a judicial exam is allowed to be taken in a language other than Macedonian. Dimitrievski said he will seek a leaders’ meeting with coalition partners to define positions and red lines on the issue.
Opposition parties said they will not trigger early elections. SDSM officials said they will not give the government an alibi and, as they put it, “there will be elections when there is no money for tenders.”
On European integration, Mickoski did not announce a new, aggressive push to break the Bulgarian veto. He said the current diplomatic approach is already producing modest results and described the dispute with Bulgaria as not a short race but a diplomatic marathon, where state interests matter more than quick gestures to please outside expectations. He added that rising public resistance to constitutional changes is treated as domestic information rather than an argument in talks with European partners.
Photo: press material from the event
