Gruevski returns to the scene of the crime

Erol Rizaov

Nikola Gruevski returned to crime scene in the Parliament of Macedonia. He climbs directly from the court, from the bench where he sits daily as being charged with more serious crimes. In the same assembly, the big door to lead the celebration of the anniversary of the worst day in parliamentary history, when he from Vienna and the president of the state Gjorge Ivanov from the Vodno residence with several MPs of VMRO-DPMNE became complicit in a brutal attack on the foundations of democracy, and are the most responsible officials for the bloodshed and attempts to lynch political opponents. Gruevski and Ivanov again became the main characters of a new anti-state act, this time with an attempt to block the work of the parliament, falsely portrayed as a patriotic struggle for saving Macedonia. It is another difficult, but unsuccessful blow to parliamentary democracy. The events of December 24, 2012, April 27, 2017 and March 14, 2018 will be recorded in recent history as “Black Monday”, “Bloody Thursday” and “Returning to the scene of the crime” are the three harshest dates in the 74-year history since ASNOM.

Nikola Gruevski came to the Parliament to demonstrate a way that mostly proves that he is not done, and that the party and its associates, as well as the entire Republic of Macedonia, should take him seriously. He clearly showed everyone that they were wrong to give up on him so fast. From the theater of the absurd and from the processes of Kafka, as he literary calls the court proceedings against him, he came to another theater with a much wider audience, but with the same role – of a false patriot to defend Macedonia from the Macedonians, Albanians and all other ethnic communities that voted the Law on Languages. The motive for fighting enemies is presented to the public as a demolition of the dangerous Law on Languages, that is, the wider use of the Albanian language whose enrollment threatens the Macedonian language, and poses a threat to the stability and security of Macedonia. It is a defense of the same law that Gruevski himself signed with two hands in order to remain in power, and thus save himself and his closest associates from justice that was in sight before the elections.

Gruevski showed his already well-known face in the Parliament by playing the pathetic role of the patriot of the past century, who after robbing and destroying Macedonia with his “family”, tried quite unconvincingly with a funny supporting role to complete the work from April 27th. It was a great deal to keep the democratic procedure for hearing 35,000 amendments. It is not worth the explanation for the millionth time that with just one amendment, or with 5, 10, 50, and 100 amendments, a multi-day debate can be conducted that will clearly show the weaknesses of the proposed law that we have already heard in the public past debates and indications. With such an approach, VMRO-DPMNE would have contributed more to the point, than to the unsuccessful blockade of parliament and its further degradation.

What was satirical on the 14th of March in the Parliament, was while Gruevski, as in the films with Charlie Chaplin, was hanging around the parliamentary pulpit and was dragging Speaker Xhaferi on his sleeve, pouring a glass of water on him, the street in front of the Parliament was very sad. A dozen desperate patriots talked to TV stations about how the state was ruined, stunned because the citizens of Skopje do not care and calmly enjoy this spring, which came earlier than the calendar. Rare passersby walked without excitement by those who recounted patriotic fairy tales and called for a revolution. For the destruction of the state, much better and bigger arguments were available in Gruevski’s 12-year rule, but they avoided this topic again. They chose Gruevski’s thesis as the main argument that the procedure for reviewing 35,000 amendments has been skipped and that is why the country was demolished. They were very unhappy that the democratic blockade of the parliament was prevented, which could have been good for the end of the mandate of this government.

The second tragicomic figure on the evening of March 14 was President Gjorge Ivanov, the country’s most responsible official and a direct culprit for the bloodshed on 27 April, who, instead of preventing it, sparked it by failing to extend the mandate of the new prime minister who secured a majority in parliament, he made a catastrophic mistake with the first veto of the Law on Languages. This time, President Ivanov again added gasoline to the fire, announcing veto again, although he has no right to do so. Ivanov, terrified as if the country had suffered a natural disaster, tried to leave the impression that without his signature, there was no law.

For the image to be realistically reconstructed by returning to the past century, it would be best, before the Assembly in the Women’s Park next to the monument of the ASNOM fighters, to put up the tents as in the 90s, where the rebels would stay from Easter to Mitrovden, and the nationalist patriots of VMRO-DPMNE will sharpen their knives for cutting the claws of the ”Shqiptar” eagles, but also the heads of domestic traitors. That’s how their political career started, so it’s likely to end the same way if Macedonia had not learned its lesson in these 27 years of independence. All in all, this is another sad truth about Nikola Gruevski’s last attempt to return to the political scene and save himself from facing justice.