Mickoski at the October 23 academy: Europe looks like a “restless volcano”, calls for vigilance against provocations
The prime minister did not name which services or actors he has in mind, and the checked reports carry no detailed opposition response.
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said at the ceremonial academy marking October 23, the Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle, that Europe is “taking on the appearance of a restless volcano”. According to the Albanian agency Albeu's account, he said reason is getting less and less room, while protests and violence occur daily in Europe and in neighboring countries.
Mickoski, according to the same report, said the activity of the services in the Balkans “never stops” and that he would not be surprised by attempts to bring the region's problems into North Macedonia as well. He warned that some want to drag the country into their own problems or bring such an atmosphere into citizens' everyday lives.
He called for greater awareness, for citizens not to fall for provocations or artificially raised topics, and for exaggerated ethnic issues to be avoided. According to the same report, he also suggested that certain domestic actors may be inclined toward personal interest and accused some opposition representatives of being capable of “miracles” for money and false promises of posts.
It is important to stress that the report conveys Mickoski's sentences through paraphrase, not as verbatim quotes, so the exact wording may differ from what was published. We therefore stick to what can be checked: the thrust of the speech and its main messages.
What is known about the context? Europe is indeed seized by protests. On October 21 there were mass marches in Greece over living costs and education, and in Albania the student protests reached their tenth day in a row. In that context the warning about unrest is not without basis, but that does not mean there is a concrete, documented threat to North Macedonia.
We found no opposition response to the claims about “services” and “provocations” in the sources we checked, so we do not report one. It is therefore not possible to say how the remarks were received, or whether they will provoke public debate.
What is not known? It is not known which services, actors or provocations the prime minister has in mind, or whether specific security information underlies them. Nor is it known which “opposition representatives” he refers to. Without such details, the public cannot judge the weight of the warning.
What does it mean? The speech is more a message of internal cohesion than a concrete security statement. Whether it gains weight will depend on whether the government publishes what stands behind the warning.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 24, 2026
