Balkans | President Bendarowski delivered his annual address to Parliament

North Macedonia’s President, Stevo Pendarovski, delivered his usual annual speech in Parliament today.

President Bendarovski, in his speech in parliament, emphasized the justice system in the country and said that as long as prosecutors and judges who made scandalous decisions are free, justice will disappear.

Pointing out that the public should have not only ostentatious arrests but also long prison sentences and return of stolen goods, Pendarowski said, “But at the same time, in order to respect the presumption of innocence, let us not condemn people publicly without being convicted by a competent court.” But if the judicial authorities come to an agreement with publicly known people who insure their unborn children and grandchildren with public money, all our efforts will fail. There will be no justice without politicians imprisoned for corruption, but there will be no justice as long as the judges and prosecutors who make decisions Scandalous motivated by corruption are free. He rated it.

Bendarovski stressed that many factors limit our development and consume the country’s resources, from the disastrous effects of privatization, blockade and sanctions in the 1990s, to the conflict in 2001, to the global financial crisis in 2008/2009, to the depth of internal turmoil that we are still trying to address and that ended with the imposition of Parliament …to the political crisis. Wounds And finally, the epidemic and the war in Ukraine, a number of factors limited our development and depleted the country’s resources.

Pointing out that cyclical crises are caused by external factors, some of which have little or no influence, Part of the responsibility actually rests with local politicians and political parties, starting with the first appointments, Pendarovski said. Who is the head of institutions at the central and local level in the early 1990s until today? Democracy is seriously compromised when trust in institutions declines,” he said.