Regarding the reaction of the German Government following the statement of President Ivanov featured in his interview with Bild newspaper:

The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, stands firmly on his positions expressed in the interview for the German Newspaper Bild, that state institutions of the Republic of Macedonia have not received any financial means from the European Union for the purpose of handling the refugee crisis, or in other words, that EU assistance to the budget of the Republic of Macedonia is 0 Euros.

We invite the German Government to precise, and to clearly and exactly state to whom, when and for what purpose the mentioned 52 million euros were allocated.

In order not to manipulate or mislead the public, we hereby inform that the mentioned 664 million Euros for the period 2014 – 2020 are part of the IPA funds and are intended for implementation of EU-related reforms, and not handling the refugee crisis and covering additional costs incurred by the institutions during the state of crisis. We wish to remind that all countries affected by and handling the refugee and migrant crisis, have received special financial assistance by the EU for that purpose.

Regarding the claims that the Republic of Macedonia has been exchanging security related information, we hereby inform the public was denied access to EU, Schengen and EURODAC databases, under the rationale that it is a third country and that there are legal bureaucratic obstacles and restrictions to this.