The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia at today’s 57th session adopted a decision according to which, as of tomorrow, 27th of May, the Decision on prohibition and special regime of movement on the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia ceases to be valid.
At this session, a decision was made according to which from Thursday, 28th of May, hospitality facilities in the Republic of North Macedonia will start operating with an appropriate, precisely defined protocol for their work in the open-air areas, i.e. the terraces of these facilities, and the work in the closed areas and in the facilities that do not have terraces will be regulated in the next phase;
At its session, the Government of North Macedonia decided on 1st of June, 2020, to terminate the Government’s conclusions by which different categories of employees are exempted on various grounds from regular and ongoing performance of work activities, such as a referral to work from home, commuting to work in the city of Skopje, organizing the work process with rosters and other similar measures and recommendations.
The Government concluded that this decision would be accompanied by an appropriate work protocol, action and conduct in the workplace relating to spatial conditions, physical distance in the work and other premises, wearing personal protective equipment and so on;
This does not apply to the chronically ill, and as an additional conclusion, the Government today determined that the parents who have children under the age of 10 or preschool children are exempted from this decision, for whom the decision to start the work of kindergartens will be awaited.
Today, the government adopted the protocol for acting upon the entry of all Macedonian citizens in the country. According to this protocol, the mandatory state quarantine for the citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia returning from abroad with humanitarian flights or convoys is replaced by domestic isolation if the persons entering the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia submit a negative PCR test for coronavirus COVID-19 taken in the last 72 hours before entering the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia.
As of today, according to the decision of the Government from today’s session, all persons who are taken to the facilities for state quarantine, at their own expense, can do a PCR test in the facility where they are accommodated and if they have a negative result they will be referred to home self-isolation.
At this session, at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Commission on Infectious Diseases, a protocol was adopted for foreign diplomats accredited in the country and members of their families, who if they submit a medical certificate for negative PCR test taken in the last 72 hours before entering the Republic of North Macedonia, will be able to perform their work without obstructions and without being referred to domestic self-isolation.
In addition to these decisions, at today’s session, the Government assigned the Commission on Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health to make a clear and precise assessment of the opening of the state borders, as well as to prepare appropriate protocols for entry and exit to and from the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia.
It was concluded that this decision will be made on the basis of joint coordination with the countries in the region with which excellent communication has been established, which announces that very soon traveling in the region will be regulated in the interest of the citizens of all countries.
The second assignment from the Government for the Commission for Infectious Diseases at the Ministry of Health is to prepare appropriate protocols for the work of the hotels, i.e. the manner of work with visitors, and the work in hotel facilities.
At today’s session, the Government adopted the Information on the requirements that meet the criteria of the Public Call No. 1 for loans from the Credit Line from the Compensation Funds from foreign aid in order to reduce the consequences of the coronavirus COVID-19, and confirmed the proposal of the Development Bank of North Macedonia AD Skopje with which 117 companies that employ 3,001 people, have been granted loans in the total amount of 2 million euros.
Of these 117 applicants – 58 or 50% are companies with up to 10 employees, 43 or 37% are companies with up to 50 employees and 16 or 14% are companies with up to 250 employees.
Today, the Government adopted the Decree with force of law for financial support of film workers during the state of emergency, as well as the Decree with force of law for financial support of artists and other natural persons performing other activities in the field of culture during the state of emergency for payment of funds for the months of April and May 2020, in a monthly net amount of 14,500 denars.
Decree with force of law amending the Decree with force of law on application of the Law on Employment and Insurance in case of unemployment during the state of emergency was adopted today, according to which an unemployed person whose employment was terminated in the period from 11th March, 2020 to 30th April, 2020, regardless of the time spent in employment, can exercise the right to monetary compensation in the amount of 50% of the monthly net salary of the employee paid for the last month, but not more than 80% of the average monthly net salary per worker in the Republic of North Macedonia, announced for the last month. This compensation is paid in case the employment was terminated by a written statement by the employee, when his employment was terminated by agreement or when his employment was terminated by the employer, for a period of two months, calculated from the termination of the employment.
The adoption of the Decree will provide material security to unemployed persons whose employment has been terminated through no fault of their own and not of their own free will.
Today, the Government reviewed and adopted the information with a Rulebook on the instrument of support – Co-financed grants for technological development to overcome the consequences of COVID-19, which introduces a new mechanism for support and development of micro, small and medium enterprises in the Republic of North Macedonia.
The support will be realized through a Public Competition lasting 15 to 30 days, intended for micro, small and medium enterprises, and the financial support is structured according to the size of the enterprise, as follows: up to 0.75 million denars for micro, 1.5 million for small and not more than three million denars for a medium-sized enterprise, with secured own participation that cannot be less than 30% of the total project budget.
For the Rulebook, consent has been obtained from the World Bank as a financial partner in the realization within the Skills Development and Innovation Support Project.
The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia reviewed and adopted the Information on Increasing Fiscal Transparency Related to the COVID-19 Crisis, which resulted from the increased number of emergency and urgent public procurements, the establishment of donation funds by legal entities and individuals from the country and abroad and the utilization of funds from international sources to deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The aim is to inform the public about the revenue and expenditure side of the funds that flow into the Budget of RNM, as well as records of all non-financial donations received as assistance, and are intended to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.
The fiscal transparency will be realized by undertaking a series of measures such as upgrading the Electronic Public Procurement System (EPPS) which will enable marking of public procurement related to the crisis situation for the pandemic, upgrade of the Open Finance portal with section COVID-19 and by supplementing the website koronavirus.gov.mk for publishing data related to fiscal transparency with the COVID-19 crisis, on which, in addition to the data obtained from the EPPS and data from the portal Open Finance, other data that are not available on these electronic systems, will be published.
