Numbers that always look good on paper. Interior Minister Pance Toškovski filed a report claiming that Macedonia today has the lowest crime level in the past 20 years. According to him, 30 organized criminal groups have been busted in two years, and the "Safe City" system is delivering concrete results - fewer traffic violations and fewer victims.

The report is part of every government's usual ritual - a list of successes is submitted, numbers are highlighted, a picture of progress is painted. And indeed, if the data is accurate, that's good news. But this is exactly where the Balkan reflex of skepticism kicks in: crime numbers depend on how much gets reported, not just on how much actually happens.

"Lowest level in 20 years" is a powerful claim, but a citizen measures safety differently - not in statistics, but in whether they feel safe on the street at night. And these days, when in the same period we read about attacks in the center of Skopje and cars being torched, the report and the feeling on the street don't always match.

Thirty busted criminal groups sounds impressive - but so does the question of how many such groups exist in the first place. Every government brags about what it uncovered; rarely does one talk about what slipped past it. Reports are necessary, but they're the start of the conversation about safety, not its end.