Skopje 11th December 2012 (MIA) – SDSM has a strategy to deliberately postpone the Budget discussion so as for bridge financing to occur. You do this since you believe that the country should experience a chaos so as for SDSM to be saved in a way, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski said, during the amendment-related discussion about the Draft Budget at the session of the Parliamentary Finances and Budget Committee.
– Manner in which amendments are submitted and the manner in which they are commented shows that the real objective is not to discuss the 2013 Budget, but the real objective of SDSM is to rather hold up the adoption of the 2013 Budget and to use the Budget discussion for the local elections campaign, Stavreski said.
In none of the European countries, he added, the opposition submitted 1,226 amendments for the Budget.
– In none of the countries, hours are spent in discussing single amendment, for which it is obvious that either the central government is not responsible or that funds have been already projected in the Budget. It is stipulated in the Budget of the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning that there are funds for the treatment station in Gostivar, for realizing the Project, the implementation of which has been in progress for several years, there are funds for 2013 and it will be completed by the middle of 2013, Stavreski explained.
You, he accused, deliberately come to the speaker’s platform and waste time, so as to postpone the discussion.
– This only shows what is the true objective of SDSM. The real goal of SDSM is to held up the Budget and prevent the execution of the 2013 Budget, more precisely to prevent the pension increase, the increase of subsidies and the regular payment of subsidies, prevent both the increase of social welfare and its regular payment, as well as to prevent the realization of major infrastructure projects such as the construction of Corridor X Motorway, the national gasification system, the railway towards Bulgaria, reconstruction and construction of public health institutions, sports halls for children and everything that is financed from the Budget, Stavreski said.
Such destructive behaviour of a political party, he stressed, has never happened in Macedonia in the last 20 years.
– Lot of political parties have been in opposition and each party has once been in opposition and no such destructive behaviour has ever occurred. It has never happened in Europe for a certain opposition in a country which, according to all international standards, has exceptional macroeconomic stability, low level of debt and low budget deficit, to held up the Budget and the Budget discussion in such manner, Stavreski said.
He pointed out that SDSM, as a political party, would bear the responsibility for not adopting the Budget.
– It is already obvious that is your goal given the manner, in which you discuss these amendments and the manner in which you propose the amendments. In fact, two thirds of these amendments cannot be legally accepted since the central government is not in charge thereof, and you know this fact very well. I do not believe that SDSM did not read which are the competences of both the central and the local government in the Law. You propose amendments being under the responsibility of local government, which cannot be accepted only for the purpose of having larger number of amendments, holding up the work, waiting for 31st December so as for the liquidity in the economy to deteriorate, failing to settle the liabilities towards the business sector, preventing the increase of pensions and their regular payment, preventing the increase of social assistance and the agricultural subsidies and failing to implement the capital projects. You, as a political party, should have guilty conscience about this, Stavreski said.
MP SDSM Mitre Veljanoski asked why so large amount of funds should be spent for pensions.
Stavreski replied that precedent has occurred for the first time in the Republic of Macedonia and that he believes that SDSM has a stain on his behaviour since this political party abuses the democracy in the Parliament.
– SDSM has a strategy to deliberately postpone the Budget discussion so as , as you previously said, for a bridge financing to occur. Why do you do that, it is because you want for the country to experience a chaos so as for SDSM to be saved in a way. You had the same discussions last year, the year before last and in all previous years, you were talking that the Budget was not good, that the projects were unproductive, however in none of the previous years, you submitted 1,226 amendments. Thus, given the fact that your repeat the same discussion during the previous years, and submit so many amendments for the first time, and for the first time you debate each single amendment for hours shows that this strategy is deliberate. Unfortunately, SDSM strategy has been always the worse for Macedonia the better for the SDSM leader. That is the whole conception, behind which this game is hidden, Stavreski accused.