Levica raises the alarm: Macedonia's concession system for marble extraction is "a systematically designed model that damages the state and citizens." The numbers speak for themselves - 1.7 million euros collected over four years from 29 concession holders. That is less than the cost of one luxury apartment in Skopje.

The party claims that "profits are privatized while the environmental, economic, and social costs fall on the state and citizens." Concession rates are too low, oversight is weak, concessions expand without supervision, and minimal funds are allocated for land reclamation after excavation.

Environmentalists add their alarm about proposed laws on mineral resources and concessions. "Nature is not for sale," they declare. Levica proposes establishing state-owned enterprises to manage natural resources instead of concessions.

Macedonia is a small country with limited resources. Giving them away for pocket change and leaving holes behind - that is not economics, that is a fire sale. And when the mine runs dry, all that remains are craters and the question of who took how much.