“The Sports Ministry isn’t the organizer of the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival, EYOF. The Macedonian Olympic Committee and City of Skopje are. Everything that was asked of us as the Government and as the Sports Ministry regarding logistics and financial support, has been delivered on in full in order for us to help this event to be held”, Sports Minister Borko Ristovski said in an interview with MTV1.
Though he emphasized that he was aware of reactions, he underlined that the organization had been received in 2023.
“Neither the then-government nor the current one signed any consent that it would support the holding of such a big competition”, Minister Ristovski underlined as well.
According to him, the Government and his Ministry invested over one million euros to help the organization of the EYOF.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with the organization of the EYOF, nor can we have something because we are not the organizers”, Ristovski stressed.
In response, however, Mayor Danela Arsovska said the City of Skopje had been excluded.
“Borko, as the Sports Ministry and as the Government, you would organize the EYOF for an entire year, you spent millions, you didn’t allow the City of Skopje to be included anywhere, but, now, you want to make us the culpable ones”, she stated.
The City doesn’t know what was organized and where money was spent, Arsovska also pointed out.
“You didn’t invite us to be part of the processes. You didn’t invite us to the opening. That half of members of the party [, VMRO-DPMNE,] and 10 Ministers opened the EYOF shows you’re the organisers and hosts”, Arsovska underlined.
Ristovski, nonetheless, denied her accusations.
“I will remind that, at the 6 April press-conference, I said this was a big event sports should benefit from primarily because of the big number of Macedonian participants. Let me remind that we were asked to help in the last 90-100 days. I suggested that we didn’t have the capacity and power, but I received assurances that the organizer would deal with the challenge”, he noted.
Responsibility with regards to oversights in the organizations, the Minister stressed, falls to those that took the responsibility and obligation to organize the EYOF.
“The oversights are the result of the incompetence of a female mayor and of the responsible people at the Macedonian Olympic Committee”, the Sports Minister also said.
Commenting on the matter, however, SDSM said that Ristovski should resign because of the embarrassment related to the EYOF.
“The least Ristovski can do is hide and submit an irrevocable resignation”, the party noted.
According to SDSM, Ristovski should leave the position not only due to the “debacle” regarding the EYOF, but also due to the “disastrous” results that all sports federations of North Macedonia have achieved during the event.