Only two MPs from the inland will become “Skopjans”

Only two MPs from the inland reported that they would move to Skopje and thus relieve the Assembly from paying high bills for travel expenses. These are MPs Ane Lashkoska from Prilep and Blagica Lasovska from Stip. However, in the coming months, several MPs are expected to become “Skopjans”, considering that some asked the parliamentary services to explain the procedure, others are gathering the necessary documents, while others had not yet rented an apartment in Skopje.

Lashkoska is MP in the Assembly since 2011, when she became part of the VMRO-DPMNE’s parliamentary group. For seven years she has been regularly traveling from Prilep and to Prilep, and it is the reason she has now decided to change the place of residence.

“I made the decision, among other things, because the conditions for traveling are more difficult in autumn and winter,” says Laskoska for “Independent newspaper”.

And her party colleague, Blagica Lasovska, said that every day long journeys from home to work became too strenuous.

“Duties start early in the morning, which means that waking up was even earlier, and then coming back home…”, Lasovska commented.

By a decision of the Parliamentary Commission for Elections and Appointments, the MPs from the inland who do not have an apartment or a house in Skopje from the beginning of the month were given the opportunity to choose whether they will go to work with their own car and receive a 20 percent refund for fuel and tolls or will rent an apartment in the capital. If they opt for the latter, the Parliament will give them a maximum of 400 euros for rent and 100 euros for utilities. In that case, travel costs will be covered for weekends and for holidays only.

The assembly says the interest in renting an apartment was quite high and they expect the number of MPs who will move to Skopje to grow by the next month. They point out that the new model for calculating travel costs will significantly diminish the possibilities of mismanagement of the funds they receive. The main guarantee for this will be the requirement for tolls to be paid with cards, for which they will have to provide evidence.

Measures will be in place to also prevent any misuse regarding the renting of apartments. The Assembly will not give money to the MPs, but will directly pay to the owners and companies that provide communal services: electricity, water, steam …

MPs from all parties have so far shown unprecedented solidarity regarding the payment of travel expenses, which has led to years of public criticism. Some of them received over 10.000 euros a year for fuel and tolls, taking advantage of legal regulations, without showing any sense regarding this legal crime.

With the arrival of the new government and with the support of the opposition, travel expenses have dropped by a third, but the MPs have been given the opportunity to purchase an apartment in Skopje instead of traveling on a daily basis.

Opponents of this decision comment that MPs from the inlands can not simply move to the capital, because they lose the opportunity to communicate with their fellow citizens, that is, their own voting body, which expects them to solve the local problems.

This year, for the payment of travel expenses, the Parliament allocated EUR 1.3 million.

Goran Adamovski