North Macedonia's Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski denied today that the strategic partnership agreement with the British government envisages the opening of migrant camps in his country.
He told reporters at the Mother Teresa Clinical Center that it was a "non-existent topic" and noted that the British Ambassador (in Skopje, Matthew Lawson) had already said that the strategic agreement did not foresee the UK sending migrants to North Macedonia.
"There is no need to 'ruffle feathers' on a topic that does not exist. Now we can invent topics, if there is none - we can invent a topic, that it is dark outside, but we see that it is daytime. We do not need the British media. So isn't the statement of the British ambassador enough, who said 'no camps, no migrants'... Isn't that enough," Mickoski asked.
He added that his government will not pass any law in parliament in a "smuggling manner" and will not classify it as confidential, so that the Macedonian public will know what they will sign, under what conditions, what the prices are for construction, which companies will build...
"We have no intention of hiding even a millimeter of information that citizens need... The Macedonian public will have access to everything, every cent that will be spent, and it will not be classified as a top secret document. Let them rest assured," Mickoski said.
Previously, the largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM), asked the government of Hristijan Mickoski to answer whether part of the strategic partnership with the United Kingdom, the signing of which is announced for tomorrow, includes the possibility of North Macedonia accepting migrants.
"We asked this very question a few days ago. And the Government - is silent. Now, when both the British media and politicians are talking about 'broad cooperation' in the field of migration, the silence is becoming an alarm," SDSM organizational secretary Martin Kostovski said at a press conference.
He pointed out that Mickoski, in a short interview with the British television station Sky News, which was published by the media, avoided answering a direct question: "Does part of the strategic partnership with the United Kingdom include the possibility of Macedonia accepting migrants?"
According to Kostovski, the VMRO-DPMNE government (Hristijan Mickoski) has signed an agreement on a new six billion euro debt, and the public has not yet received any concrete information about the content and obligations arising from that agreement.
"There are no answers as to what the conditions are, what the interest rate is, how many years this loan will be repaid, and how much it will ultimately cost the citizens," said Martin Kostovski, the organizational secretary of the opposition SDSM.
The Prime Ministers of North Macedonia and Great Britain, Hristijan Mickoski and Keir Strammer, reached agreement on the Strategic Partnership Agreement on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Tirana on May 16.
Rumors about British camps in North Macedonia emerged after media reports that the United Kingdom was exploring the possibility of establishing "return centers" in the Western Balkans to send irregular migrants there and facilitate their return to their country of origin.
The camps, which are said to be modelled on Italian migrant centres in Albania, which receive up to 36.000 asylum seekers a year, would theoretically ease pressure on the UK's immigration system.
According to some British media, London is negotiating with up to nine governments, including six from the Western Balkans (Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro), with the aim of solving the problem of illegal migration.
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