It promised 20, but now SDSM’s new government will have 25 ministers

By Оливера Војновска On Jun 7, 2017 0

Radmila Shekerinska speaking in the debate “We create accountable government”. Photo: SDSM’s website

In October 2015, the vice president of SDSM, Radmila Shekerinska speaking in the debate “We create accountable government” among other things, gave the following statement:

Macedonia is unequivocally a negative record holder, 26 Ministers – even if there are two million (people, our remark), but there aren’t, it turns out that there is one minister for every 81.000 people. In Germany, there is one minister for five million people, Estonia, for example here are some countries close to the size of Macedonia – Latvia, Estonia, you’ll see 90, 100, 150 thousand (citizens for one minister, our remark). We believe that this must be changed. The number of ministers in SDSM’s government won’t surpass 20 and it will work to decrease this number, and we’ll start talks with every other party in the Parliament in order to decrease the number of lawmakers between 90 and 100, which we believe will suit Macedonia best…

[Source: A1 ON (from 19:50 to 20:35 in the video); Date: 07 October 2015]

EXPLANATION:

Yesterday (28 May 2017), the proposed Program and the proposed composition of the new government that will have 26 members – Prime Minister and 25 Ministers, out of which eight are Ministers without portfolio, were delivered to the Parliament by the mandatary Zoran Zaev. This move is contra the statement of SDSM’s vice president Radmila Shekerinska that SDSM’s government will have maximum 20 ministers and it will tend to decrease that number.

The new members of the government proposed by the mandatary Zaev are:

Radmila Shekerinska – Minister of Defense
Oliver Spasovski – Minister of Interior
Dragan Tevdovski – Minister of Finance
Nikola Dimitrov – Minister of Foreign Affairs
Renata Deskovska – Minister of Education
Ljupcho Nikolovski – Minister of Agriculture
Mila Carovska – Minister of Labor and Social Policy
Robert Alagjozovski – Minister of Culture
Damjan Manchevski – Minister of Information Society and Administration
Goran Sugarevski – Minister of Transport and Communications
Hazbi Lika – Vice Prime Minister of Political Systems and Relations between the Communities
Bujar Osmani – Vice Prime Minister of Euro Integrations
Sadula Duraku – Minister of Environment and Physical Planning
Kreshnik Bekteshi – Minister of Economy
Bilen Saliji – Minister of Justice
Arben Taravari – Minister of Health
Suhejl Fazliu – Minister of Local Self-Government
Ramiz Merko – Minister without portfolio
Kocho Angjushev – Minister without portfolio
Edmond Ademi – Minister without portfolio
Robert Popovski – Minister without portfolio
Samka Ibraimovski – Minister without portfolio
Adnan Kâhil – Minister without portfolio
Zorica Apostolovska – Minister without portfolio
Zoran Shapuric – Minister without portfolio

Even though SDSM announced that the number of ministers will be decreased, the new government will have the identical number of ministers as the current government led by VMRO-DPMNE (25).

Therefore, we deem the aforementioned statement, given by Shekerinska almost two years ago, during the debate that was held within the project the Vision for Macedonia, as inconsistent and we assess it as untruthful.

SOURCES:

A1 ON (07 October 2015): (ВИДЕО) Шекеринска: Обезбедуваме власт што ќе мора да дава отчет (од 19,50 до 20,35 минута од видеото) [Accessed on 29 May 2017]
SDSM’s website (07 October 2015): Дебата: Создаваме одговорна власт [Accessed on 29 May 2017]
grid.mk (07 October 2015): СДСМ ќе го намалува бројот на министри и пратеници [Accessed on 29 May 2017]
time.mk (29 May 2017): Собраниска седница за избор на новата влада ќе се одржи утре [Accessed on 29 May 2017]
Akademik ( 29 May 2017) : Предлогот за новиот владин кабинет доставен до Собранието на Република Македонија [Accessed on 29 May 2017]

Assessed by: Olivera Vojnovska

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.