VMRO-DPMNE Demands Facts on Data Centres, but the Numbers for Power and Water Are in None of the Statements

VMRO-DPMNE has accused SDSM and its leader Venko Filipche of creating fear and panic in the public over the possible construction of data centres in Macedonia, without arguments. The governing party's message is that the country needs development and vision, not what it calls political hysteria.

"Filipche again went public with categorical positions on the possible construction of data centres in Macedonia, as if his opinion were on its own a sufficient argument," VMRO-DPMNE said. The party also claims the opposition is further irritated because the initiative against data centres in Pehchevo did not pass, since one of their own people was behind it.

This is where the statement starts to refute itself. The Pehchevo initiative did not merely "pass" - on 25 August the Council of the Municipality of Pehchevo unanimously rejected the initiative to launch a procedure for a data centre in the fields of Pancharevo. Unanimously. If the decision was a party operation, then VMRO-DPMNE's own councillors voted for it too.

The demand for facts cuts both ways

The governing party is asking for facts, expert analysis and an argued debate instead of fear. That is an entirely legitimate demand - and it is exactly what was demanded in Pehchevo.

A data centre requires high connected capacity and a stable electricity supply, in a country that imports power. It requires water for cooling, with the quantity depending on the size of the facility, the density of the equipment and the chosen system. It requires land, fibre routes, security. So far not a single statement has said how much electricity and how much water, or at what price. When those numbers are absent, the demand to "give us facts" is coming from the side that holds the facts.

Nothing gets built with panic - that is true. But nothing gets built with press releases either. If the investment is as good as claimed, the fastest way to make the opponent look foolish is not to write that they are spreading hysteria. It is to publish the numbers and let them speak.

Pehchevo asked a question and got an attack on the opposition. The answer to the question is still missing.