Macedonia's NGOs Face Inspections After Political Threats

The Public Revenue Office, UJP confirmed on Tuesday that it is preparing to send financial inspectors to the Foundation Open Society - Macedonia and to 20 other NGOs, but dismissed allegations that its actions were motivated by the ruling party threat to combat internationally-funded civil sector groups that allegedly work for foreign interests.

"The UJP carries out regular controls of all taxpayers based on its legal jurisdiction, regardless of political events in the country," the UJP said in a press statement. 

It added that the increased number of inspections was undertaken in response to a request by another unnamed state institution, filed in November, suggesting that its actions predate the country's hotly-contested elections on December 11.

However, civil society groups suspect political pressure after Gruevski called for the "de-Soros-isation of the country" - a reference to billionaire financier George Soros, who founded the international grant-giving Open Society Foundations network.

"The announcement that the inspections will happen after the end of the election points to orchestrated pressure against the civil associations in Macedonia in this delicate moment of the political crisis," said Fani Karanfilovska the head of the Foundation Open Society - Macedonia (FOOM).

"There is just too much coincidence to think it is a routine inspection. For one, it did not happen before, and it comes at the same time as the former Prime Minister Gruevski announced the 'de-Soros-isation' of Macedonia," said Bojan Maricic, the head of the Macedonian Center for European Training, an NGO that is also to be inspected.

"The organizations that are being inspected, by some coincidence, are all in some form of partnership with FOOM," he...