Cheaper fuel, and a hole of up to 8 billion denars in the budget

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski expects cheaper diesel and petrol next week, and the government is negotiating in parallel with "Okta" for an additional discount. The goal is "convincingly the lowest price in the region". Someone, though, pays for the cheap litre: part of the excise duty has been cut, VAT on diesel has been lowered from 18 to 10 percent, and according to the prime minister himself the budget will be short 7 to 8 billion denars. That is why a formal budget revision is coming in October, and the government has decided to borrow a fresh 1.3 billion euros. Good news at the pump, an open question in the treasury: how long can the state keep the price low?

Von der Leyen passed the ball back to Sofia

Mickoski called his meeting with Ursula von der Leyen "exceptionally friendly", and then admitted he is not satisfied with the messages: the constitutional changes remain on the table. What is new is that after her "constructive advice", Minister Timcho Mucunski requested a bilateral meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Velislava Petrova. There is no answer from Sofia so far. For years the government has been asking Brussels to get more involved, and when Brussels pointed it towards Sofia, the prime minister accepted the advice and is unhappy at the same time. What will Skopje say at that meeting that it hasn't already said?

The same day, history entered another argument. As Greece handed Bulgaria the remains linked to Tsar Samuel, Mickoski cited the Bled Agreement, but Goce Delchev's relics reached Skopje a year before Bled. When history is an argument in diplomacy, the dates have to be right.

The student meal: 147 denars against pricier food

Students want 200 denars for the subsidised meal, Minister Vesna Janevska offers 147, seven denars more than the current 140. The maths isn't on the ministry's side: just to keep the purchasing power of two years ago, the meal should be around 151.5 denars. Instead of an answer on the number, Janevska offered a new idea - vouchers for certain restaurants instead of cash. Voucher or cash, the question remains how much a hot meal costs today.

The "Ljubljanska" bridge and the mayor looking for culprits

Skopje Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski promises that the bridge on "Ljubljanska" will open to traffic by the end of this year. Four lanes, pedestrian and bicycle paths, a corridor to Zlokukjani and the ring road. Construction stood still for years over the permit for the Skupi archaeological site, and the mayor blames his predecessors for the delay. If the bridge works by December 31, that will be news. If not, who will he blame then?

At the same time Gjorgjievski announced new crackdowns on unlicensed street vendors, after the operation at Bit Pazar in which around 500 kilograms of food were seized. Checks will follow in Kisela Voda and Centar too, and his message is that the vendors have space in the markets.

Three attacks on children in Skopje in one day

The police bulletin of October 2 brought three reports of attacked minors: a 15-year-old boy robbed under threat of a sharp object in Centar, three pupils attacked on an organised school trip in Saraj, and a 17-year-old attacked in Aerodrom. The police are "taking measures", but the bulletin doesn't say how the attacker in Saraj got to children who were under the school's supervision. In Miletino near Tetovo, meanwhile, a road dispute ended in the ER, after a 75-year-old injured his 66-year-old fellow villager with a sharp object.

Beer for export, cigarettes without duties

Macedonian beer exported more in seven months than in all of 2025: 7.1 million litres exported against 3.08 million litres imported, with Kosovo and Albania as the main buyers. A figure heading in the right direction. On the other side of the market, European auditors estimate that almost one in ten cigarettes in the EU is illegal, and in Macedonia operation "Filter" uncovered around 70 million cigarettes put on the market without duties, with police and customs officers involved. When smuggling is protected by those who are supposed to stop it, who is the control then?

Russia hits Kyiv's bridges, Rama calls the promise a lie

For the third day Russia is hitting the bridges in Kyiv: the South Bridge is closed, the North Bridge hit, and residents spend up to three hours getting to work. At the same time Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that what Ukraine is being promised is a lie and that it will never get into the EU through the regular path, calling for the veto to be abolished. Macedonia knows what waiting at the door because of other countries' vetoes looks like.

A record marathon and a national team without a goal

The nicer side of the day is playing out on the streets: the Skopje Marathon has drawn a record 15,050 runners from 63 countries, starting at 8 am and finishing on Macedonia Square. The national team, sadly, has no such figure to celebrate: after the defeat to Scotland, Macedonia has reached 697 minutes without a goal. The Scots took 24 shots in Skopje. At least the runners reach the finish line.

The harder part of the day comes down to one question: how many of the promises - the cheaper litre, the meeting with Sofia, the bridge by New Year - will hold up when the budget revision, Sofia's answer and December 31 arrive?