Page 27 - Ekonomija i Biznis_noemvri 2016.indd

ECONOMY
in the fight for power, the parties know that
the extreme political measures can satisfy
only the orthodox leftists or rightists,
however with them it is difficult to satisfy
the most numerous layer of the elector-
ate. Hence, it is quite understandable that
the parties offer programs intended for the
widest electorate whereby they de facto be-
come parties of the center
DPMNE’s program is best expressed if
we take a quick glance at the specific
measures indicated in the program,
such as: increase of the salaries of the
employees in public administration by
21%, increase of pensions by 24%, in-
crease of social assistance by 21%, sub-
sidies for agriculture in an amount of
670 million Euros, special programs
for employment of specific categories
of unemployed people, subsidies and
tax exemptions for employment, in-
crease of the lowest salary, compen-
sation for the energy poverty, scholar-
ships for education, reduction of the
participation for education, grants
for self-employment, construction of
social apartments, subsidies and tax
reliefs for foreign direct investments,
construction of sports halls. When we
would see these things, I believe that
the disciples of conservatism (from
Friedman to Thatcher) would turn over
in their graves one hundred times.
Anyway, something is not all right with
the world (or with me) for sure, if the
things above are a synonym of a con-
servative, right-wing party!
On the other hand, in SDSM’s elec-
tion Program of 2011 the focus is on
the following issues: development of
democracy and support of equality; re-
duction of unemployment and poverty,
as well as improvement of the standard
of living; reduction of social differenc- as 54% of the measures proposed by
es; strengthening of the institutions;
cooperation between the public and the
private sector; development of the po-
litical culture and tolerance, etc. One
can notice that most goals in SDSM’s
Program are typically leftist same as
the topics related to poverty, tolerance,
equality, although the emphasis on the
institutional development is a favorite
right-wing topic.
Still, if we review the specific mea-
sures from the economic program of
SDSM, then once again we can notice a
mixture of typically leftist instruments
which are typical of the conservative
parties. For example, SDSM’s Program
includes an entire array of measures
such as: progressive taxation, employ-
ment of unemployed with low quali-
fications in infrastructural projects,
subsidies for employment of specific
categories of unemployed people, credit
support through the Macedonian Bank
for Support of Development, subsidies
of interests for loans, massive public
works (afforestation), law on minimum
wage, social housing and other forms
of social assistance, facilitation of the
access to education, programs for buy-
ing Macedonian products, tax reliefs
during import, tax exemptions and re-
liefs for the business, support of export
enterprises, transformation of pub-
lic enterprises, health care insurance
based on solidarity, public investments
in health, education and energetics,
fiscal discipline (budgetary balance for
the current expenditures and mainte-
nance of the public debt at the level of
31% of the GDP), abolition of the capi-
tal gains tax, reduction of the prices
of fuels, etc. Indeed, the insisting on
minimum wage, public investments
and progressive taxes is based on the
social-democratic economic policy,
however the abolition of the capital
gains tax and the firm fiscal discipline
could easily enter the election program
of any western conservative party.
Furthermore, on the basis of the
specific measures contained in the
programs of the two political parties,
the authors from the Center for Eco-
nomic Analyses calculate that as much
VMRO-DPMNE are leftist, while as
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