From January 2025, the salaries of officials will increase again according to the growth of the annual average salary, which is the basis for calculation, from about 330 euros for the highest official salaries for the prime minister, the president and the speaker, to about 130 euros for the lowest.

The fact that in February of this year, by amending six laws, the complexity coefficients by which the base is multiplied in the calculation of salaries were reduced, only helped to prevent their incomes from increasing in this year 2024, after in March 2023, by the decision of the Constitutional Court, they increased by 78 percent. In order for them not to grow even in 2025, the Government should propose to the Parliament to reduce the coefficients for calculation again or to fulfill the promise of bringing a new systemic law for wages in the public sector, but for now it is uncertain what will happen. For the time being, there is no question of drafting the new system law, and the executive power led by VMRO-DPMNE does not announce that it will stop the increase, although it was loudly against the increase in officials' salaries while it was in opposition, and Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski even demanded that all ministers work without compensation!

For Mickoski plus 330 euros, for Dameva 265, for Arsovska 230!

The salary of officials is calculated by multiplying the average salary from the previous year with a complexity factor, to which other allowances such as past work, bonuses, various allowances, etc. are added. Before the February changes to the coefficients, they ranged from 2,2 to 4,5, and after the changes, they decreased from 1,91 to 3,92. With this reduction, the coefficients were "leveled" in such a way that the current salaries remain after last year's drastic increase of 78 percent and that no salary is reduced, but also that there are no significant increases. If they had not reduced the coefficients, their salaries would have increased by another 200 to 400 euros!

The average salary for 2023 is MKD 36.614, and for 2024 it will probably be around MKD 41.000. According to the State Statistics Office, the average salary for May 2024 is MKD 41.252, and the average from January to May is MKD 40.328.

If the annual average salary is 41.000 denars, the basic salary of the officials with the highest coefficient, namely the prime minister, the head of state and the president of the Assembly, will amount to 160.720 denars without allowances. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, according to the data published by the Government, receives a basic salary of 140.450 denars (2.280 euros), so it follows that from January next year his salary will increase by about 20.000 denars (330 euros) and will amount to 160.720 denars (2.610 euros) ).

Deputies, for whom the coefficient from 3,5 was reduced to 3,04 after the legal amendments, this year receive a basic salary of 111.300 denars, and from January they will receive 124.600 denars each, i.e. 13.340 denars (210 euros) more, without allowances. The mayor of Skopje, Danela Arsovska, who now has a coefficient of 3,22, now receives a basic salary of 117.900 denars, and from next year 132.000 denars, which is an increase of 14.000 denars. The same coefficient as the Mayor of Skopje is due to the State Public Prosecutor, who also receives additional compensation in accordance with the Law on Prosecutors' Salaries. The president of the Judicial Council, Vesna Dameva, for whom the coefficient was reduced from 4 to 3,7, this year receives a basic salary of 135.400 denars, and next year she will receive 151.700 denars, which is 16.300 denars more.

An official with a coefficient of 3 will receive a salary increased by 13.150 denars, and with a coefficient of 2 it will be increased by 8.700 denars. Officials whose salary is calculated according to the lowest coefficient of 1,91 now receive a basic salary of 69.900 denars, and from next year 78.300 denars, which is an increase of 8.400 denars.

One is the opposition, another is the government

""Sloboden Pechat" asked the Government if they will prepare a new law that will regulate the salary system in the public sector, including elected and appointed officials, and when we can expect that law, which according to the previous governmentдled by SDSM was very complex to make and they announced that they will prepare it for at least another year. The government should also answer us whether they will be taken into considerationвand the decisions made so far by the previous government, which submitted to ENER in 2022 a proposal for a law on salaries in the public sector, according to which the basis for calculation will be miniмalnatga salary, the level of the workplace will be calculated with points that will have a unique value in the entire public sector, and the Assembly will determine coefficients for all.

We also asked the Government if it plans to "intercept" the increase in current salaries in January with a new reduction in the coefficients or if they will no longer intervene in the coefficients and if they think it is okay for officials to receive a new increase in a few months. As soon as we receive answers from the executive branch on this important topic of public interest, we will publish them.

On the ENER page where the proposal for a new law on salaries in the public sector is posted, it is stated that the calculation and payment is now carried out on the basis of special laws and collective agreements, and in some institutions even by regulations.

"It is evident that there are no clear rules and a uniform methodology for the calculation of salaries in the legislative authority, the executive authority, the judicial authority, the local self-government, the elected, appointed and appointed persons and the commercial companies in full state ownership", says ENER, where the proposal is set up by the former Ministry of Information Societyсtsvo and administration.

This inconsistency has so far been pointed out by several officials, including the former Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and the current Hristijan Mickoski, who pointed out that in some state agencies certain officials or members of management boards receive a higher salary than the ministers or the prime minister, which, according to them, is unacceptable and should be corrected by a new uniform law for all salaries in the public sector.

VMRO-DPMNE, while in the opposition, strongly opposed the increase in the salaries of the officials by 78 percent, and now when asked if they will reduce the salaries, they answer that the goal of the Government is "to make a better standard of living for all citizens, not to have such differences in salaries as they are now." At the moment, ministers receive basic salaries in the amount of 115.540 denars, which is almost as much as three average salaries (41.252 denars), and as much as five minimum salaries (22.567 denars)! This difference causes a huge revolt among the citizens, especially since the minimum consumption basket for a family of four is about 60.000 denars.

Recently, on the other hand, the Minister of Finance Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska said that she does not see a solution in the reduction of official salaries, because the ministers work very hard and added that if they reduce them, she will leave her position, because she earns more in private, and the position is stressful .

The increase in officials' salaries came about after the Constitutional Court abolished the fixed basis last year on March 21, which amounted to 26.700 denars, which wasшis established in the Law on salaries of elected and appointed persons, with the reasoning that it is unconstitutional to have two bases, after which only the annual average salary remained as a basis for calculation. It grows unstoppably from year to year, so official salaries will grow with it.