VMRO-DPMNE: Hypocritical for SDSM to interfere in pepper buyback
The party accuses SDSM of politicizing farmers’ complaints and points to Mamas ajvar and Zoran Zaev as major buyers.
VMRO-DPMNE issued a sharp reaction accusing SDSM of turning a commercial dispute over pepper purchases into a political confrontation.
In its statement the party wrote: "It is hypocritical that SDSM interferes in a political fight and an accounting over the pepper buyback. Next time SDSM sends a request about the purchase of peppers, let them direct it to the largest buyer Mamas ajvar and Zoran Zaev. Farmers who have a problem with the purchase well know that among the largest buyers is Zaev's company."
The message singles out Mamas ajvar and Zoran Zaev by name and frames SDSM’s intervention as politically motivated rather than a straightforward defence of farmers’ interests.
VMRO-DPMNE’s reaction comes after SDSM publicly backed demands from growers in the Strumica region and urged that the purchase price for ajvar peppers be set above 50 denars.
The exchange illustrates mounting tension between the two major parties as they seek to claim the farmers’ issue for their own political agendas ahead of upcoming public debates.
Photo: press material from the event
