Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 10 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs
EU Accession Progress of North Macedonia: Engagement with Foreign Minister of North Macedonia
Dr. Bujar Osmani:
For almost two months, we experienced a campaign during which tens of elementary schools and kindergartens received almost daily emails containing bomb threats. Every day, we had to evacuate elementary schools, causing trauma to kids and spending the resources of the police forces to go through checking and so on. That was one version of the hybrid threat. Who knows what those behind it were aiming for? They may have been attempting to test the capacities, defocus, traumatise and so on. This threat is multifaceted. Our national strategy is inclusive in terms of involving not only state institutions but also private stakeholders and taking a whole-of-society approach in order to be more effective in countering these threats.