"All these events cost the Budget and the citizens zero denars," Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said in Stip. "Feel free to check on Open Finance and you will see that all of this is zero denars." He named not a single company that provided the funds, and not a single sum.

That same day, documents were published showing the other half of that sentence.

A 14-day timeline

On 28 April the government, at its 167th session, decided to hand the task of celebrating 35 years of independence to the State Lottery - a state-owned joint stock company whose 45,000 shares belong to the state.

Two days later, on 30 April, the Lottery published a "Public call for the collection of bids for the realisation of sponsored events". The call was run under the Law on Sponsorship and Donations, which is why it never appeared in the public procurement system. The deadline for bids - five working days.

The conditions in the call were extraordinarily precise: a world artist of "A class" with "A class" production, an open-air event with a guaranteed attendance of at least 30,000 people; a second international "A class" star accompanied by Macedonian artists; and at least 12 theatre and visual events across the country under the concept "35 years of independent Macedonia".

Those three descriptions then materialised point by point: David Guetta, Jose Carreras with Macedonian performers, and the "Silno svetnal den" series. A tender that describes so precisely what later happened is not a call for bids - it is a specification written after the supplier was already known.

Only one bidder applied: Stardust, a company connected to the Avalon production house. Five days after the deadline expired, on 12 May, Boban Miloseski of Avalon and government spokesperson Marija Miteva jointly presented the programme and announced Guetta's performance.

Who is Stardust

The company's registered founder is Mia Miloseska, daughter of Boban Miloseski, the owner of Avalon. The firm was founded in 2021 and has had its account frozen, with the last registered freeze in March 2025. In 2025 Stardust recorded revenues of around 67 million denars.

And one more thing: in February 2026, two months before the public call, the State Lottery had already paid Stardust 1,850,610 denars. What for - has not been published. Miloseska, asked by phone, said she was not familiar with what money this concerned and that she would answer in writing. The answer never came, not even after two and a half months.

Two accounting categories

The prime minister's claim can be technically true and substantively empty at the same time. Direct expenditure from the central Budget can indeed be zero while a state-owned joint stock company pays for those same events out of its own funds. Those are two different accounting categories - and the State Lottery's money does not stop being state money because it passed through a different account.

Payments from the Lottery, incidentally, do not appear on Open Finance, because these are contracts signed directly between the company and the firms. So the prime minister directed citizens to check on a portal where precisely these transactions are, by definition, invisible.

The numbers that are missing

Lottery director Aleksandar Klimovski said all questions about the sum should be put to the government. Spokesperson Miteva asked for the questions in writing; there is no answer. Back in May she announced the public would be informed "once all programme, production and contractual elements are finalised". The celebration is over. Everything has been finalised except the informing.

Miloseski of Avalon, asked about the money at a press conference, replied with a question of his own: "Do I look like an idiot to you?"

The opposition SDSM claims Guetta's performance alone costs at least a million euros and that the total across all events reaches five million. That is a party estimate, not a confirmed figure - but it is the only figure anyone has said out loud at all, which itself says something about the state of things.

In total 16 events were held, with appearances by Steve Aoki, Paul van Dyk and Paul Oakenfold. Not a price has been published for a single one of them.

The question is not whether Macedonia is allowed to celebrate. Nor whether world names are allowed on the stage. The state can organise a celebration, companies can be sponsors, a state-owned company can take part in the financing. Every one of those models leaves a document behind. "Zero denars" is an answer to a question nobody asked; the question was how much it cost.