Government stands by data-centre plans; Mickoski: in talks with 5–6 potential investors
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski says the administration is in talks with five to six potential investors and insists strategic deals will be made public.
The Government of North Macedonia says it will press ahead with plans to host data centres, and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski told reporters the administration is negotiating with "5 to 6" potential investors, including one large multinational company.
Mickoski defended the policy amid public unease and opposition criticism, calling the attacks false and politically motivated. Answering questions at a government event marking the signing of the design-and-construction agreement for the interconnector gas pipeline between North Macedonia and Serbia, he rejected claims of secret deals.
On accusations and transparency
Translating his remarks, Mickoski said: "Regarding the opposition's comments, I suppose Freud is at work with them and they think that just as they behaved toward the state and the citizens—lying to them, robbing them, humiliating them—so everyone behaves. We as a government have no intention of doing anything behind the scenes. Every foreign investment or investment that is strategic we publish publicly, transparently, and there is no doubt about that."
Mickoski also laid out the government's argument that data centres connect to broader economic goals. He told the audience that without artificial intelligence and data centres, economies such as the United States would look very different, and named global firms — Nvidia, Amazon, SpaceX, OpenAI — as examples of businesses whose reputation and brand value depend on not harming citizens. "These projects are aimed to build gas-fired power plants through gas that will produce electricity that will later be used in these data centres," he said.
The prime minister addressed a local controversy over a proposed site in Pehchevo that the municipal council rejected. He described that proposal as private and part of a draft urban plan: "That is a private initiative and it is a proposal for a draft urban plan. The state has nothing to do with it. When the state will make or participate in the construction of such a facility, we will tell the citizens publicly and transparently."
Opposition SDSM leader Venko Filipche yesterday accused the government of negotiating in secret with a company that, he claimed, already secured 100 megawatts of electrical capacity for a data centre and has direct access to the Vardar river. Filipche published a document to support his allegation, increasing the political salience of the debate over the plans.
Photo: MIA
