NEWS OF THE DAY: Deputy Health Minister Musa resigns following bribery scandal
Deputy Health Minister Asim Musa today resigned at a press conference for the media.
The resignation comes after a video was published by an Albanian media outlet, in which Musa is recorded bargaining a price for a surgical procedure for a patient from Albania and takes 50 euros in “advance”, which is not part of the entire amount, for “coffee”, as he says in the video.
Filipce condemns resigning Deputy Minister for taking bribe
“I think that we should have a non-selective approach, regardless of the functions we have, and the institutions need to take appropriate steps in that sense”, says Minister of Health Venko Filipce, following the resignation of Deputy Minister Musa, who is involved in a corruption scandal.
Basic Prosecutor’s Office establishes a case for Deputy Minister of Health
The Basic Prosecutor’s Office Struga has established a case in regards to the posted video with Deputy Minister of Health Asim Musa, and is acting in the direction of determining the facts.
From the Public Relations Service in the Public Prosecutor’s Office they say that the Deputy Minister will be summoned to give a statement.
FLASH NEWS
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced that an agreement has been reached with businesses and trade unions on increasing the monthly minimum wage, which in the future will be 14.5000 denars. Currently, the minimum monthly wage is 12.507 denars.
The Association of employers and the Union of Chambers of Commerce support the decision on increasing the monthly minimum wage to 14.500 denars, outlining that the Government has been careful and that the decision has been made through a process of dialogue and consultations.
“The government entered this process very carefully. This increase may seem to be higher for some sectors, but we need to remind that with the new law, the salary contributions will be endured by the government. I hope that this process will continue very carefully”, said Angel Dimitrov, President of the Association of Employers.
More than 20 million denars are the indications for tax evasion by firms connected to the first suspect in the “Racket” case, Bojan Jovanovski, known as Boki 13. The Public Revenue Office has discovered tax evasion in BMJ Group, the International Union and Tomato Production, and has also conducted inspection in 1TV.
Minister of Labour and Social Policy Mila Carovska, today with several former ministers and current officials from the region, debated at a panel discussion dedicated to policies against discrimination, within the framework of the conference “Effective social protection: supporting children, families and communities in the fight against poverty”.
- In five years we will know how transformational are the reforms we are implementing. These social reforms are exceptionally important, not only for providing socially vulnerable families support and conditions for a normal life, but also for improving the situation of all citizens, for keeping young people in the country and for creating a better perspective for all, said Carovska.
Following the first round of talks between EU member states on opening negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania, the Finnish presidency has officially proposed separation of the negotiation process of the two countries, learns MIA from diplomatic sources in Luxemburg.
The information has been confirmed for MIA by three EU member states, but French diplomatic sources claim that there is “practically no chance” that France will accept the proposal.
The trial for the bus accident near Lascarci continued today in the Basic Criminal Court.
Judge Diana Gruevska Ilievska is assigned to the case, while public prosecutor Darko Jakimovski is representing the case.
At today’s hearing, legal representatives of some of the victims, most of the representatives of the families of deceased passengers, said that they are joining the criminal prosecution and all announced legal claims for the damages.
CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES
CIVIL workshop for Green Future in Strumica
Today, CIVIL is holding the last workshop of the series of workshops that CIVIL is organizing within the framework of the project Green Future.
The Workshop in Strumica is an excellent opportunity for all socially active citizens, regardless of where they come from, whether they are part of the non-governmental sector or part of a party, to express their opinions and proposals on social justice, green values and antinationalism
CIVIL Conference: The Greens are coming!
The Conference “The Greens are coming!”, which is organised by ЦИВИЛ, will be held on October 25 at Hotel “Porta” (Aerodrom), from 12 noon to 2.00 pm. Civil society organizations and initiatives, political parties, institutions at the national and local level, the media and interested citizens are invited to the Conference.
The Conference will address the challenges and opportunities in the area of green values, social justice and antinationalism, as well their interconnectivity and indivisibility, for which CIVIL strongly advocates. Furthermore, findings from CIVIL’s field work, evaluations, analyses and recommendations on various categories in the country and in society, will also be part of the conference agenda.
OPINION
With iron shoes or barefoot on thorns
“Macron took off our shoes. On the thorny path to the EU, now only with iron ones. We can go barefoot, but that gets you nowhere.
Today, tomorrow, we will finally know, but so much for the date for starting negotiations. At least not an invitation, a comfortable one, as we wished for.
But all right, it’s neither the first time, nor something to be specially alarmed about. Somehow only two things are unfavourable, the first one, that there won’t be a celebration, and the second one is that by the middle of next year we will have to start them…”, writes Zoran Ivanov.
Angela Petrovska
In cooperation with: Diana Tahiri, Маја Ivanovska, Biljana Jordanovska
