3-6-9 months or years?

Aleksandar Nikoloski

Plan 3-6-9, which was pompously announced by the media, should be an action plan for implementing reforms that Macedonia should deliver in several key areas, such as rule of law, justice, public administration, media, security-intelligence services. According to the government, they should have been based on recommendations by Reinhard Priebe’s expert group and remarks from the European Commission’s progress reports. The goal is to speed up reforms and start membership negotiations with the EU. The plan was made without any consultation with the opposition, although, in the very plan, there are many things related to the laws that should be voted in the Parliament, part of them with a two-thirds majority, which cannot be achieved without VMRO-DPMNE. But what can be noted at first glance is that this document is just a media inflated balloon to conceal the inability, incompetence and lack of will of the current government to carry out substantial reforms. And I will demonstrate this with specific arguments and facts extracted from the document itself.

At the meeting of the Working Committee for European Integration held on February 15, the Government itself concludes that although the ninth month is over, which means that the plan should be realized or at the final stage, the level of implementation is alarmingly low 41%, which means it is not half according to the Government’s assessment! If the document is substantially analyzed, one can see that these 41 percent are inflated, which means that the government does not have the capacity to implement a plan it has made itself. So the government makes a plan alone and then can not realize it. This shows the complete incompetence and incoordination in the Government! If they can not realize the plan they themselves have written, how will they implement reforms and requests from the European Commission that would come during the negotiations and who would not not be written by people from SDSM and DUI in the Government with modest expert experience, but top experts from Brussels that has already negotiated with a number of countries for membership. With this level of work and fulfillment, the question arises logically – here, and to resolve the name dispute, how many years Macedonia will negotiate membership with such personnel on the government side, probably dozens of years.

The activities envisaged for the implementation of the reforms are usually absolutely insufficient to achieve some fundamental change and are just a form to write, probably thinking it will be easier to realize, but that’s not the case. For instance, in many cases, it is envisaged the signing of memoranda of cooperation between institutions, such as the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which is considered a completed activity and an implemented reform. State institutions have a legal obligation to cooperate with each other and exchange information. How then would the conclusion of the memorandum be any progress or some kind of reform? In addition, other so-called “reforms” provide for holding meetings and trainings, and therefore the reform is considered to be implemented. For instance, the Government considers that the capacity of the supervision committees of the UBK/AR and special investigative measures has been strengthened with a single realized training, and thus the work in terms of strengthening civil supervision of the security services has been completed. With a single training. Another example, according to the current status of Plan 3-6-9, the travel of many parliamentarians and parliamentary staff to the United Kingdom is a significant step towards improving the functioning of the Parliament and political dialogue.
When it comes to appointing managerial staff in institutions and members of management and supervisory boards, there is no status as to how these activities are taking place. It is understandable, because rather than qualitative, professional and independent personnel, they appoint party servants, such as the shift of over 1,600 members of the management and supervisory boards.This is evident in most institutions where efficiency is reduced, and interpersonal relationships are seriously disrupted by revanchism and pressure on employees.

Manipulations are made with the Register of Public Sector Employees, which was transparently published two years ago. In order to conceal the massive wave of layoffs and new employments of party staff in state and public institutions. In that direction, there have been changes in the laws for administrative and public sector employees, to remove the criteria and to adapt to the employment needs of party servants. Let me mention that exactly these laws were developed in cooperation with SIGMA with the support of the European Commission!
In the area of ​​cooperation with the civil society, the decision to establish a Council for Cooperation with Civil Society Organizations was changed and the selection procedure was repeated (in some areas even twice) in order to be elected representatives of organizations that are close to SDSM. Those same organizations whose members and directors today work as advisers in the Government and other institutions. How can such a situation be discussed in general about the existence of a civil society which in every normal state should act as a corrective of power?

The important strategic documents that should set the country’s vision for the coming years and decades are carried without the involvement of the opposition and without civil organizations that have different views of the government. The best example is the Judicial Strategy, which was adopted through an extremely formalistic process, in which the opinions of some of the experts close to the government from the Judicial Reform Council, formed by the Government itself, were not taken into account, and then resolved not to respect its recommendations, so part of the members, like Kalajdziev, Najcevska and others, decided to resign.

And the last justification for the incompetence and failure to work, the Government through Bujar Osmani tried to find it in the opposition. Transparent and unfair play! I will comment on the most important part of the 3-6-9 plan, which deals with the fight against organized crime and corruption. Of the nine measures, only two have been implemented! The remaining seven are not, and should be realized either by the Government, either by the Ministry of Interior or by the Ministry of Justice, none of the Parliament! The government, the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of Justice does not lead the opposition!
The 3-6-9 plan is the best indicator of who is leading our country – incompetent people who only know how to manipulate media, to say those three lines learned by Europe that they want to hear, and to arrest and revenge at home. When the negotiations with the EU begin, they will expose themselves and we will all see how much it is!