A water guarantee delivered in one word

Speaking from Washington, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced that the government is in talks with six data-centre companies, and that financing for Čebren and Gališta was discussed with the US DFC. The chain is laid out clearly: gas pipeline, gas plants, data centres, artificial intelligence. Asked whether low-water-consumption cooling would be used, the answer was a single word - "absolutely". That is the point where the answer is shorter than the question. A guarantee covering six investors who have not signed anything yet is not something a prime minister hands out at a press conference. It goes into a contract, a permit, a grid-connection condition.

Seven years after Laskarci, the case returns to where it already was

The Supreme Court overturned the Appeals Court verdict on the Laskarci bus crash, which killed 16 people. The reasoning is anything but diplomatic: the courts never explained how, precisely, each defendant contributed to those deaths. The first-instance verdict handed down 39 years in prison, Appeals raised it to 53, and the Supreme Court now says that increase came without adequate reasoning. Expert findings identified both driver error and a mechanical fault, but nobody measured how much the fault actually contributed. Seven years on, the families of 16 dead still have no final judgment.

The damage grows, the sentence stays the same

At the State Lottery trial, every defendant pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors revised the damage from 8.2 to 9.7 million euros - a difference of roughly one and a half million, accumulated over a year of work on the case. Perparim Bajrami spent two years as a fugitive and only took his seat in the courtroom after turning himself in. Four more investigations against him are open. The sentence on the books for the offence is one to five years.

Croatia opens a door, the next border stays shut

From 23 September Croatia starts accepting applications for long-term visas for professional drivers from Macedonia. After months of uncertainty it is the first concrete relief - and it does not solve the problem, it just moves it. The 90/180 rule is being settled bilaterally, country by country: three agreements so far, Croatia, Romania and Switzerland. Europe meanwhile is short 502,000 drivers and offering salaries to workers we train here.

Institutions that move only after somebody takes a photo

In Centar, residents photographed rats in a car park next to a primary school, and pest control arrived afterwards. Two school yards saw two assault reports in a single day, one child with a fractured nasal bone - police promised measures, while what the school, the inspectorate or the counselling service is doing goes unmentioned. Bitola, meanwhile, restricted phones in its schools on its own while the state says nothing. Three different addresses, the same distribution of responsibility: somebody else.

Four projects, but are they a system

Skopje is running 100 electric buses, a 70-million-euro BRT and an underpass due by 2029. TAV, for its part, withdrew its one-free-entry-per-day rule at the airport after a request from the Competition Commission - so the mechanism works, once somebody switches it on. On the railway towards Bulgaria, a 194-metre bridge and 15 tunnels stand at 40 percent completion, on a project that began in 1990.

Who creates value, and who gets paid for paperwork

FINKI and FFOSZ received a 250,000-euro grant for a 36-million-euro project - money for documentation, not for construction. The same day brought the number that says the most about this economy: 3,280 foreign firms are 4.7 percent of all companies but generate 37 percent of added value. The gap between those two percentages is the entire argument about where anything actually gets produced in this country.

Štip as the exception that proves the rule

And then there is a 2.10-metre pastrmajlija with 17 kilograms of pork. The eighteenth Pastrmalijada fills Štip for two days with people who travelled for one dish. Mayor Ivan Jordanov pointed out something rarely said at an event like this - hundreds of hospitality businesses earn their keep off a single weekend. That is the whole point: a town in eastern Macedonia runs for two days at a capacity it otherwise never reaches. The question left standing is why that capacity has to be switched on by a local speciality and a concert, instead of by something that lasts thirty days rather than two.

And to close, something lighter

Nestorovski came off the bench and turned the match around in four minutes, while United melted a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford. Vardar lost to Nantes by a single goal and answered its fans with verses from Aco Šopov - a nicer way to lose a match than most clubs manage.

In the heavier part of the day, the same thing keeps repeating: institutions that exist, that hold the mandate and the budget, waiting for someone outside to switch them on. The Supreme Court asks for reasoning seven years later. The Competition Commission sends one request and the decision is withdrawn. A citizen photographs rats and pest control sets off. It works when pushed - the question is why it has to be pushed.