VMRO-DPMNE MP Mile Lefkov has said that the draft-law filed by SDSM for support of those impacted by the Kocani fire is in contradiction with the legal order. The deaths and injuries are the result of crime and corruption, in his view.
“When one files a draft-law, they are required to be aligned with other laws. If adopted, this would normalise corruption. Such Draft-Law creates a precedent that corruption can be calculated and can be paid. When it comes to compensation for damages, that is done through court proceedings. There are laws for that”, Lefkov stated on Monday, accusing the opposition party of trying to score political points.
However, SDSM described his comments as embarrassing.
“Laws to intervene when there are such tragedies exist everywhere in the world”, the party’s Jovanka Trencevska said on Tuesday. In that regard, she pointed to the Law on Defenders.
“It provides for concrete benefits for a certain category of citizens. Then, nobody was talking about ‘a violation of the legal order’”, she stated.
VMRO-DPMNE, she added, hasn’t learned anything from the Kocani tragedy.
“Not only have you not offered a solution, but also you have failed to face the pain of the families, you have failed to help the city. Insults instead of support. Political games instead of accountability”, Trencevska stressed.
When it comes to the condition of patients receiving treatment at the Kocani Hospital, medical teams from clinics in the capital have arrived there and started the several-day evaluation. A protocol on further treatment will be determined for each patient, health authorities explained on Tuesday.
The same day, Serbia’s Red Cross said it had collected around 12,800 euros in donations regarding the Kocani fire. Tuesday also saw Kocani’s Acting Mayor, Venko Krstevski, state that the city’s Territorial Fire-fighting Unit would employ another two firefighters.