Northern Macedonia out of control: Many clubs, few licenses

At the end of June last year in Skopje there were only three hotel facilities left that could function legally after midnight, either after hours of early work for cafes and restaurants. This shows the latest data on licenses issued for hotel activities published on the Ministry of Economy and Labor website, writes Prisma, broadcast Periscope.

Two of these countries have been registered as kabares and an open club disco. Two are at City Park, and one in the vicinity of Theatre “Comedia”. Not another object in the capital that during that period has accepted customers after midnight or after 1 p.m. has not worked legally.

But along with these countries, there have been other places where holidays have been held overnight, so there is a lot of evidence on social networks, including ads published by clubs themselves that are not on the list of patent owners.

The Economy Ministry document contains data from 2017 to mid-2024. It can be seen that every year around the country some thirty permits have been issued for hotel facilities such as calibres, nightclubs, clubs and disco clubs (the only ones that can work at night), except during the years of pandemic, 2020 and 2021, when the number of permits dropped to only seven and twelve. The largest number of licenses, 39 licenses, were issued in 2017, their number was 33 in 2023, and in the first half of 2024, or 16.

These work documents are issued every year, while companies managing such hotel facilities are obliged to renew them after their deadline has expired. The Ministry's list shows that many clubs and kabars do not do this regularly, so they have <x0hends” from one license to the next. For example, five popular artefacts in Skopje, which have received licenses in the first half of 2023, have not renovated them in 2024. But there's no record of whether they really didn't work in the period for which they didn't have documents.

The Puls swift in Kocan, in which 59 people lost their lives by fire, obtained licenses in 2021, then in 2023. According to numerous evidence, discotheque has worked all the time.

Meanwhile, the Economy Ministry for BIRN said that at the moment they have issued a total of 24 active licenses, of which 20 for calibre, two for disco clubs and two for open clubs. Five more requests are being processed.