Macedonia had not yet fully recovered from the recent constitutional crisis when new details emerged revealing the acute governance problems besetting the country.
Following the change of government, the Ministry of Transport and Communication has blocked the completion of the China-financed Kicevo-Ohrid highway amid allegations of losses to the state budget in the region of €155 million, a substantial sum of money in a small and underdeveloped economy such as the Macedonian.
The scandal implicates not only four high-level politicians from the previous government (including the former Prime Minister) but also refocuses attention on the role of Chinese infrastructure projects in fueling corruption in the wider Western Balkan region says the analysis published by the EU Institute for Security Studies.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia example is indicative of the Chinese model of infrastructure investment in the Western Balkan region and may potentially signal similar problems arising in the future in countries where Chinese projects are launched.
For example, according to the Serbian Infrastructure Ministry, companies from China have obtained contracts in the region of €5.5 billion for the construction of highways and railways. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Beijing is financing and building a number of lignite power plants. In Montenegro, a loan of €1 billion has been provided by the Chinese Exim Bank for a section of the highway linking the port in Bar with the Serbian border.
Read the complete policy brief on the following link:
Balkan corruption: the China connection
by Michal Makocki and Zoran Nechev from IDSCS