The Mihailova Case, the Price of Electricity, Oncology Without Therapy, a Luna Park by 2029

Mickoski takes the Mihailova evidence to NATO

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski says NATO allies will be the first to see part of the evidence about Iva Mihailova's escape, and his tone towards Sofia comes without a diplomatic filter: the diplomatic damage, he says, is Sofia's problem, and Skopje's problem is bringing the fugitives from justice before a court. Mihailova, who holds Macedonian and Bulgarian citizenship, is charged before the court in Kochani over a traffic accident on the Kochani - Shtip expressway in which Besim Durmishi was killed. Her guilt has yet to be determined by the court. Sofia replies with an article of law under which a Bulgarian citizen is not handed over to another state for criminal prosecution. Among all the statements, one question went unanswered: how did a person whose travel documents had been confiscated vanish from the border system? The allies may get to see the evidence, but the domestic public is still waiting for that answer from the Interior Ministry.

Brussels skipped Macedonia, Zagreb made use of it

In the European Council's conclusions on enlargement, Montenegro is the only candidate from the region mentioned by name. Macedonia, a candidate since 2005, appeared at the summit only in the speech of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who used Skopje's years-long blockade to show how constructive Zagreb has supposedly been towards Podgorica, even though it is setting eight conditions. How heavy those conditions weigh inside Montenegro itself was shown by MP Milan Knežević, who called for an "uprising" if the Government accepts them. When a neighbour that is blocking justifies itself by pointing out that someone else blocked for longer, what is the phrase about enlargement as a "geostrategic investment" worth?

Electricity until New Year, and then "let's wait"

At the opening of the new school in Chento, where children studied in barracks for decades, the PM also answered the electricity question: the price won't change until the end of the year, and for 1 January "let's wait and see what the energy companies say." The key number is 65 euros per megawatt-hour, what state-owned ESM currently charges universal supplier EVN Home, while on European exchanges the price exceeds 200 euros. Mickoski says nothing below 65 will be offered, and on paper the decision belongs to the Regulatory Commission. A guarantee that runs until 31 December is still a guarantee, it just shouldn't be read as a promise for the whole winter.

Oncology out of Zoladex again, and the blame lies with distribution

At the Clinic of Radiotherapy and Oncology Zoladex is missing again, and patients with HER2-positive breast cancer were sent back without their Phesgo therapy. The clinic apologised and said the problem is in distribution, "outside the direct control" of the clinic. It didn't say how many patients are affected or when the drug will arrive. Procuring medicines isn't bad weather: someone signed the contracts, someone tracks the deliveries, and someone should have known the drug wouldn't arrive before the patient came in for therapy.

The Interior Ministry opens the drawers: UHMR, Kuklish and vehicle registrations

The financial police filed a criminal complaint against nine people and one company, among them the then acting director of the Hydrometeorological Administration. According to the Interior Ministry, two companies received around 488,000 euros through procurements in which the "lowest price" was chosen without any prices being offered. In Strumica, a new complaint was filed against former mayor Kostadin Kostadinov over the legalisation of a warehouse in Kuklish, even though the Higher Administrative Court had rejected the owner and a building inspector had ordered demolition. Kostadinov says he is ready to answer for every one of his decisions. In Skopje, a 47-year-old employee of a vehicle inspection company allegedly pocketed the fees drivers pay at registration for five years, causing damage of 6.8 million denars. If the Interior Ministry is right, for five years not one of the institutions that were supposed to receive that money noticed the numbers didn't add up. Who was reading the reports?

A Luna Park promised before the deadline of the cancelled contract

Skopje Mayor Orce Gjorgjievski promises an amusement park by the end of 2027, but the cancelled 10-million-euro Luna Park contract had a 36-month deadline, meaning until 2029. Skopje has had no amusement park since 2017, and the solution now is the seven rides bought back in Koce Trajanovski's time. Gjorgjievski also announced that Boris Trajkovski Boulevard will be finished by the end of the year, after three decades of waiting, without saying what the project costs or who the contractor is. In Kichevo, Mayor Aleksandar Jovanovski's report arrived a day later, almost identical, as a VMRO-DPMNE press release, and its biggest figure, over 470 million denars in new investment, is for now a plan.

The second pension pillar with three portfolios, no guarantees

The draft law on multi-funds closes the question of nationalising the second pension pillar. Every fund will have a growth, a balanced and a conservative portfolio: riskier up to 45, safer over 57, and anyone who doesn't choose will be assigned automatically by age. The three private mandatory funds have over 630,000 members. A higher potential return, mind you, doesn't mean a guaranteed higher pension.

The food that never reached the shelves

The Food and Veterinary Agency destroyed almost 70 tonnes of unsafe food in eight months, and sent more than 122 tonnes of animal-origin products back from the border. Among the stopped shipments were 27.5 tonnes of UHT milk from Kosovo with aflatoxin above permitted limits, meant for a supermarket chain. Director Oliver Milanov insists the food is safe, while at the same time asking for fines to be doubled, because the current penalties aren't enough.

The region: Fico on Vučić's stage, Torcida in Split

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico took the stage at Aleksandar Vučić's campaign rally in Novi Sad and declared he hadn't come to lecture anyone on how to vote, the way "some other foreigners" do. He said that sentence as a foreigner, from a party stage, ahead of the 25 October elections. In Split, meanwhile, Hajduk fans sang about Auschwitz and Hitler before the match against Ajax. Four people have been arrested, and HDZ's founders are demanding an investigation into whether Serbia is behind it, instead of first looking at their own ranks.

Sport: Vardar out, Ohrid defend their title

Vardar are out of the EHF Champions League as early as October, after four defeats, three of them by a single goal, the latest 33:32 at Wisła Płock. Coach Ivan Čupić says the team is young, with a young coach, and Macedonia's strongest European card this autumn is Ohrid, who set out to defend their European title. In football, Elmas scored in under a minute, and Vinícius will watch El Clásico from the stands.

The harder part of the day had a common thread: every institution had an explanation, and hardly any had an answer. The Interior Ministry about the border, the clinic about the drug, the City about the deadlines. The explanations sound reasonable until you ask who, in the end, signed off on what never arrived.