Government signs €350,000 contract with Friday Communications to promote projects

On 1 September the Government signed a new one-year contract with Friday Communications worth about €350,000 to produce and promote state projects, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in response to a question on TV24. "It is the government's job to promote its work," he told the broadcaster while listing increased pensions, investments and stronger budget revenues as government achievements and stressing that what matters to him is whether public procedures were carried out according to law.

The contract covers video and photo production and a communications campaign for government projects. Mickoski's office signed an almost identical deal with the same company last year for roughly €380,000; together the two contracts exceed €730,000 over two years. Both this year's and last year's agreements were signed on behalf of the Government by General Secretary Igor Janushev.

Company ownership and registration

Friday Communications is registered in Skopje. Published records list co-owners as Marko Kostadinovski and MK Media Group, a company registered in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. The presence of a Bulgarian-registered partner partly explains the sharp political reaction after the new contract became public.

The opposition SDSM issued a strong statement accusing the ruling party of hypocrisy and corruption. "They themselves took Bulgarian passports, opened companies in Bulgaria, and now with public money they hire a Bulgarian company to promote their 'successful' work. This is hypocrisy without limit. This is an organized criminal group with Mickoski, which once sells great patriotism, and today spends citizens' money through Bulgarian firms to make it look like they are doing something. They do nothing but crime and corruption. They do this and do not stop. While citizens struggle with empty refrigerators and new debts, the Government pays hundreds of thousands of euros for its own promotion through a Bulgarian channel," SDSM said.

The dispute recalls a previous controversy: last year, three days after the tragedy in Kočani and during a seven-day period of mourning, the Government signed a contract with Market Vision worth about €400,000 for public opinion research. SDSM said the timing suggested the Government was thinking of its ratings during days of mourning; VMRO-DPMNE responded by accusing its opponent of stoking low passions and defended the purchase as public-opinion research on projects and reforms rather than a tender to measure ratings.

Photo: press material from the event