Increasing salaries in several sectors, subsidizing salary contributions in the private sector, special attention and projects that will motivate young people to stay in the country, a series of measures for reducing unemployment… This is just some of the information that was shared from SDSM sources at the briefing tonight, where the results of the public opinion poll were presented, according to which, SDSM is ahead in all significant topics and areas.
Among else, at the briefing it was said that increasing the minimum wage to 16.000 denars, as well as increasing the average wage is ever more certain. The project My VAT is giving excellent results. Efforts are made for reducing the grey economy and paying part of the salary in cash. Part of the measures of the government led by SDSM in this direction will also be subsidizing salary contributions when there is an increase of a salary of up to 100 euros.
The rule of law, as an absolute priority of the government team, was discussed at the briefing. Work is being carried out on all aspects of the rule of law, with questions about the vetting of the judiciary being opened. Still, the vetting will be discussed after receiving a date for the start of negotiations for EU membership, for which in SDSM there is strong determination that it will happen in October. There is no discussion on the vetting of the judiciary now, as this, according to sources from the ruling party, could send a wrong signal that the country is behind Albania, which has started this process much earlier. According to SDSM, a two-month postponement for the start of that process, on the other hand, is not a big difference.
“This government showed that it does not want to interfere in the judiciary” is said from SDSM. There is clientelism and many other negative occurrences, but there is also determination for them to be overcome.
What would have the “Racket” case looked like if it happened 3 years ago? No one would have touched the pro-government media, the money would have been taken, judges and prosecutors would have been silent… – is the short description of what justice would have looked like during the regime, whereas according to SDSM, the development of events in this case says that the government is not making compromises in the fight against crime and corruption.
Nevertheless, it has been concluded that a large part of the court decisions is being postponed due to the problems with the capacity of both the courts and prosecutor offices that are working with some two-thirds of the available human resources. The SPO cases are being solved with an unacceptably slow pace, according to SDSM.
There are serious signs that an agreement will be reached on the Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office, without crossing the red lines that SDSM has set, and those being the endurance of the SPO cases and the standards with which an independent and efficient prosecutor’s office will be provided.
SDSM considers that the proposal by the Albanian opposition political parties for the vetting of the judiciary to be led by foreign persons is quite acceptable, but under the condition that the opposition VMRO-DPMNE also requests that.
In terms of the request for early parliamentary elections, it makes no sense to discuss this, since there are processes and projects of high state importance that are in progress. Simply, there is no room for such a conversation before an EU date is received and before the final NATO accession in December.
Regarding the census issue, according to SDSM it needs to be conducted as soon as possible, that is, on the scheduled date from April 1 -30, 2019. VMRO-DPMNE have given to the Director of the Statistical Office 23 remarks. Among else, VMRO demands for the pollsters to work in groups, and not individually, so that rigging results could be avoided. VMRO-DPMNE also demands for the census to be carried out in 2021. According to the Eurostat standards, citizens who have been abroad for more than a year do not have to be registered, that is, they can be registered as diaspora.
SDSM once again expressed its support for the idea of one electoral unit, but also for open lists.
According to SDSM, the parliamentary elections will be held in the second half of October 2020, and there will be a technical government one hundred days before elections, according to the legal solutions arising from the Przino Agreement (2015).
Xh. Deralla
Translated by Natasa Cvetkovska
