The Bulgarian note goes unanswered, while at home they measure who stayed quiet longer

VMRO-DPMNE went after SDSM leader Venko Filipče over his silence on the diplomatic note in which Sofia published security data on the family of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski. Behind the party squabble sits a real precedent - publishing security information about a prime minister's family is not a trifle you wash away with press releases. But the focus quickly shifted from the event itself to who failed to react loudly enough, leaving the real question - what this means for relations with Bulgaria and for the road to the EU - unanswered.

The electoral code is "finalised," but only one side is writing it

The amendments to the Electoral Code have been finalised, with electronic voting for the diaspora as the headline change. The problem is not the idea but the method: the rules of the game are written by the ruling party alone, with no broad consensus. An electoral code tailored by one side carries as much legitimacy as a match in which one team sets up its own goalposts.

Kočani without water, Skopje with safe water, and the answer everywhere is the same - use less

Kočani is facing water restrictions, with consumption more than doubled. The solution on offer is not to expand the network but a message to residents to use less - easier and cheaper than investment, but the same announcement will return next summer. In Skopje, meanwhile, the water is safe to drink according to samples from the monitoring points, while parts of Kisela Voda and Karpoš were without power today - this time at least announced in advance.

Nature and the lake are waiting for decisions, not working groups

Eco-activists are demanding urgent protection for Kožuf and Došnica, with a clear message that nature does not wait for working groups. The same day, UNESCO was back in Ohrid - but Lake Ohrid is not defended by protocol meetings, but by decisions that someone has to take and enforce. The gesture is easy; the decision costs.

An alarming rise in domestic violence

Across Macedonia there is an alarming rise in domestic violence, with victims most often women and children. This is not a statistic to be read off to the side - it is a measure of how often the institutions meant to protect arrive in time, and how often they do not arrive at all.

An economy spending more than it makes

Levica is attacking the budget rebalance, claiming the state spends more than it produces. Along the same line, the GTC is at a loss again - 300,000 euros in the red for 2025, while two million went on salaries. And from 1 July, the EU is introducing a 3-euro customs charge on small parcels, whose bill, once again, the consumer pays.

Skopje businessman Mane Levis has died, the cause to be established by autopsy

The well-known Skopje businessman Marjan Jovanov, known as Mane Levis, was found dead in the yard of his home in Karpoš. The cause is yet to be established by an autopsy. When a public figure dies, the Balkan habit is to write the story before the autopsy is over - Metla will not do that. Until then, the fact is reduced to one thing: a man many knew by name is no longer here.

The world: heatwaves, admissions and old scores

In France, the heatwave left more than 1,000 dead, and instead of self-criticism Paris found a culprit across the ocean - the USA. In Russia, Putin admitted problems for the first time over Ukrainian strikes deep behind the front - and when the Kremlin talks about "hard times," it is usually harder than it admits. In the Balkans, Vidovdan at Gazimestan passed under a heavy police siege, because even a memorial easily becomes a stage for old scores.

The lighter side of the day

Behind the heavier part of the day, sport offered some breathing room. Vardar 1961 is returning to the elite with the handball Champions League expanding to 24 teams - news worth noting in Macedonian handball. In the NBA, Brunson lifted the trophy that Dončić still does not have. And a day in which institutions reach for the gesture rather than the fix at least ended with something that needs no one's signature - a ball in the basket and a goal in the net.