Twenty-six civil-society organizations, initiatives and platforms have sent the government a clear demand: to urgently annul the decisions and public calls for new concessions for geological exploration of metallic mineral resources in eastern Macedonia. In plain words - the people who have lived on that land for years do not want new mines there.

The demand concerns decisions taken in December last year and in June this year, for the "North-Northeast" and "East" areas, as well as the public call from February. Among the organizations are Metamorphosis, Eko svest, Green Human City, O2 Initiative and Green Basin - groups that have spent years fighting precisely against the opening of new mines. They are asking the government and the Ministry of Energy to immediately halt all procedures, including the electronic auction scheduled for 6 August.

The numbers that say it all

According to the organizations' analysis, the situation in the east is already dramatic. Since 2004, various types of concessions have covered around 100 percent of the territories of Probištip, Delčevo and Karbinci. Around Pehčevo the figure is 97 percent, around Češinovo-Obleševo 94, around Kratovo 89, around Zrnovci and Vinica 87, around Radoviš 86, around Berovo 85. In other words - entire municipalities have already been redrawn into concession zones, and now new ones are on the way.

The organizations claim that the new decisions overlap with already-explored areas and existing concessions, which in their view breaches Article 7-a of the Law on Mineral Resources - the article that bans prospecting exploration on areas already explored or allocated. They say the Ministry was obliged to exclude the legally prohibited areas in advance, rather than include them and then "fix" it later.

Because the deadlines are expiring, they are asking the government to inform them in writing within three working days of the actions taken. The question hanging over eastern Macedonia is bigger than one auction: when 29 municipalities have already been measured, drilled and divided up, what is left to leave to the people who actually live there - other than the demand, once again, that someone finally listen to them?