site.btaUSA Blacklists Mayor of North Macedonia's Struga Municipality

Ramiz Merko, the mayor of North Macedonia's Struga Municipality, has been blacklisted by the USA for corruption. He and his entire family are banned from entering the United States, the US Department of State reported. The news caused many comments in North Macedonia.

According to the press statement, the United States is designating Merko as generally ineligible for entry into the United States due to his involvement in significant corruption. "While serving as Struga’s mayor, Merko misappropriated funds and interfered with judicial and other public processes, damaging the public’s faith in North Macedonia’s democratic institutions and officials," the US Department of State said.

"Today's action sends a message that the United States stands with North Macedonia to foster stability through the strengthening of democratic institutions and addressing rule of law deficiencies.  This designation reaffirms the commitment of the United States to combat corruption, which harms the public interest, hampers countries' economic prosperity, and curtails the ability of governments to respond effectively to the needs of their people," the press statement reads further.

US Ambassador to North Macedonia Angela Price Aggeler commented that the US takes claims and evidence of corruption very seriously. The people of North Macedonia have the right to elected public officials who they trust, she added. She refused to comment on what further actions North Macedonia's government or Judiciary will take, but once again expressed the hope for cooperation with those who have good will and intentions to fight corruption.

Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski commented that Merko being blacklisted by the US confirms that the judicial system needs a thorough reform. The investigative and judicial bodies should look into the claims in the US Department of States' press statement and ask themselves how does the United States have such information from several thousand kilometres away, whereas in all these years North Macedonia's authorities have not obtained such data.

According to him, this case once again confirms how important it is to continue the country's EU integration, which means higher level of justice and counter-corruption.

VMRO-DPMNE commented that the United States' action confirms all suspicions that the party has about the cadres of the Democratic Union for Integration (DSU). The Albanian party Alternative insisted on the Struga Mayor's resignation and actions to be taken by the Interior Ministry and the prosecution service.

Merko has served several terms as mayor of Struga on DSU's ticket. He is the third politician in North Macedonia who the US has said is involved in corruption. Last year, the US Department of State blacklisted former prime minister Nikola Gruevski and former Administration for Security and Counter-intelligence Office director Sasho Mijalkov.