North Macedonia Govt Finally Reveals Independence Day Celebrations’ Cost

North Macedonia’s government spokesperson, Marija Miteva (R) and State Lottery director Aleksandar Klimovski (L) at a press conference in Skopje. Photo: BIRN. The series of celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of North Macedonia’s Independence Day, September 8, cost a total of 5.5 million euros, of which almost 4.9 million euros came from the State Lottery, government spokesperson Marija Miteva told a press conference on Thursday. The rest of the money, some 650,000 euros, Miteva said, came from “socially responsible” companies. The financial disclosure followed a BIRN Macedonia report published on Wednesday showing that the government had effectively tasked the State Lottery with taking care of the events, by choosing a production company that would organise them according to the government’s requirements. Four months ago, the government announced its plan for a series of events marking the anniversary, culminating in a September 8 concert in Skopje by world-famous DJ David Guetta. Since then, officials had repeatedly declined to say how much the events would cost, or who was paying for them. The government at the press conference focused on its argument that the almost 5 million euros coming from the State Lottery, which is fully owned by the government, was not taxpayers’ money. State Lottery director Aleksandar Klimovski told the press conference that the government, as the company’s sole shareholder, had ordered it to allocate the money from its undistributed 2024 profits to the celebrations. But he insisted it should not be considered budgetary funds because it remained on the company’s account and was therefore “corporate money” until formally transferred to the state budget. This supported the Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s claim on Wednesday, who, confronted by reporters, maintained that the events “cost the budget and the citizens zero denars”. The funding arrangements raised questions about transparency. In June, BIRN reported that the government was refusing to disclose the financial details of what it described as spectacular celebrations under the slogan “Silno svetnal den” [Brightly shining day], despite repeated requests for information. On Thursday, Boban Miloseski, the owner of Avalon production, which the State Lottery hired to carry out the celebrations, apologised for an earlier incident on September 7, at a press conference organised by Avalon and the Interior Ministry ahead of Guetta’s September 8 concert in Skopje. Asked why the cost of Guetta’s contract had not been made public, and whether a clause prevented disclosure, Miloseski had responded: “Do I look like an idiot to you?”, calling the question a provocation. In his apology, he said he uttered these words under a lot of “stress and fatigue”, before he had time to properly think it through. Besides Guetta, the celebrations in Skopje and across the country featured other world-famous performers and DJs, including José Carreras, Steve Aoki, Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold.