Today in the Cabinet of the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, the 7th session of the Security Council was held, dedicated to the state of emergency introduced to protect and deal with the corona virus epidemic.
The integral address of the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, is as follows.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today, we held the 7th session of the Security Council and discussed the measures and activities implemented in the past 14 days during the state of emergency.
Present at the session were the presidents of the Assembly and the Government, the ministers of defense, interior and foreign affairs, and the members of the Council – Professors Gocevski, Ljatifi and Markovic. The Minister of Health, Venko Filipce, was also present at my invitation.
The members of the Council discussed the activities of the government and other competent bodies in the period from 17 May to date. Apart from the address of the Prime Minister and the competent ministers, Minister Filipce informed about the latest development of the pandemic in our country and gave professional assessments and forecasts for the next period.
The public is already informed that the number of newly infected and, unfortunately, of deceased fellow citizens has started to grow in recent days. It is true that in most municipalities, the situation is stable, but there are serious concerns for several municipalities.
Given the latest trends, Prime Minister Spasovski explained at the session the government’s request for declaring an additional 14 days of state of emergency.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Having in mind the latest developments and the increasing number of infected and deceased people, today I will make a decision to declare a new 14-day state of emergency that will begin tomorrow.
Here, I would like to emphasize that the decision for the new 14 days is exclusively related to the intention to enable the government and other competent institutions to deal more effectively, primarily with health, but also with economic and social effects of the pandemic and there is no correlation with the date of parliamentary elections, which is subject to negotiation in a different political format and through completely different communication channels, not the Security Council.
Dear all,
On this occasion, you will allow me to send three messages – one to the citizens, one to the government and one to the leaders of the political parties.
First of all, to the citizens, I would like to thank the vast majority of our citizens for the third month that they have been extremely disciplined and conscientiously respect the recommendations for the protection of their health and the health of their loved ones. At the same time, I would like to appeal to them, to all of us, not to relax and thus to question all the positive results we have had so far in the fight against the pandemic. We will surely win this battle, but we must remain conscientious and responsible until its very end.
To the government – the negative trends observed in some municipalities must not be an occasion to return restrictive measures throughout the territory and to all citizens. The competent authorities and ministries must sanction all citizens who do not comply with the measures, without exception, indiscriminately, totally regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation. The impunity of those who knowingly disobey the law leaves room for the return of the crisis to its very beginnings and is extremely unfair because everyone else must endure restrictive measures, even though they have always obeyed the laws and recommendations.
To the political leaders who participate in the so-called leadership meetings – the state has no parliament, there is a technical government that has limited powers, the situation is too serious. That is why I ask all of them to be at the height of their historical responsibility and to agree on the date of the next parliamentary elections in order to get institutions with full capacity and political legitimacy. The state simply cannot and must not function for months only if a state of emergency has been declared.
Thank you.
