Macedonia comes out of a coma

Erol Rizaov

Macedonia takes a breath after the historic decision to start the process of constitutional changes in accordance with the Agreement with Greece, which has already been ratified twice in the Assembly. The country is no longer in a coma. The impediment to the future of the next generations, and Europeanization of Macedonia and its development as an ally of the Western world, has been stopped. Now it is easier to breathe, though the pollution of the human environment has not been cleared.

The impartial researchers of contemporary history, after keeping a certain distance, will give the exact diagnosis of the disease that attacked the small Balkan country in which everyone had the same goal of being part of Europe, but by such a strong love, they would almost suffocate their homeland. But let’s leave this thing to the researchers of historical events. In the contemporaries, direct witnesses and participants, the parliamentary vote will remain in the collective memory as the decisive act for opening a new chapter as the most important decision to proclaim the independence of the state.

Today, three days after the dramatic “appearance” in the Parliament, emotions are already dwindling, and reality imposes the key questions for achieving the goal. For starters, the best ally is the awareness of the fact that nothing is done until it is completed. It is also good that there was neither euphoria, nor protests and conflicts. Outbursts of threats, primitivism, hatred and divisions on social networks, unseen and unheard of so far, are a serious warning that there is still enough human flesh for pressing and abusing, but losing the power to destabilize the state.

The first question is – what now? Has the government and the relevant parliamentary political parties, the prime minister, party leaders and the president understand the parliament’s decision, the referendum vote, the messages from the international community, and whether they know their duties and responsibilities for their further steps, or will stick to their hard-line views against state interests. There are major damages from the current direct disruption of historical processes by top officials, such as President Gjorge Ivanov and part of the leadership of the main opposition party and its president, Hristijan Mickoski, to the extent of a profound political and economic crisis leading to disintegration and division of the state. At the moment, with great justification, the question arises whether even after the decision to start the debate on constitutional changes has been reached, this danger has been overcome. It is incomprehensible, but such a threat is still present and unfortunately continues to be encouraged not only by those who support Gruevism, but also by environments and individuals who are burdened with nationalism and chauvinism, acting as populists, calling for disabling the further process in parliament, although the doors to remove any obstacle on the road are wide open. Eight MPs from the opposition broke the ice. Condemning them with expulsion from the party due to blindness caused by hatred is a good guarantee that all subsequent decisions will be adopted with an even larger majority, which will be the strongest evidence that MPs are released from the slavery of the leadership that is still commanding from the trial benches of those charged with crime and corruption for other serious misconduct and abuse of office. Some pf them hope that their directives will be accepted even from prison.

Hristijan Mickoski definitely misses the last chance to Europeanize VMRO-DPMNE together with Macedonia, freeing it from the heavy ballast. He chose the worst way to pursue the same policy of his corrupt predecessors. He rejected the hand of reconciliation by declaring the culprits for heroes. Reconciliation was possible only by admitting guilt, with an apology and a request for forgiveness, with the support of the lawful state to complete the unhindered investigations and trials by letting the judicial instances uncover the true organizers of the crimes and crime.

Instead of such a leadership commitment, Mickoski chose to accept the obvious thin defense that does not contain any evidence, which is that it is political persecution and calculation. That was confirmed the same evening with the express decision to expel MPs from the party that he publicly called on hours before to vote according to their own belief and conscience. The sight of the VMRO-DPMNE MPs in the Parliament building looking at their eight colleagues with unprecedented hatred is breathtaking.
I think that if they had revolvers, in the best tradition of the revolutionary party, they would have shot them. The anathema and demonization that they voiced after the vote is actually evidence that VMRO-DPMNE is no longer has the potential for party reform and for its liberation from the myth of the historical VMRO, which can be considered a jewel in the history of Macedonia only in the first 10 years of its existence, from 1893 to 1903. After that it is mostly fraud, terror, murders, kidnapping, blackmail of a terrorist organization that has been working for decades on the plundering of Macedonia. In any case, this myth, like many others, should be left to the reassessment of impartial historians free from ideologies and nationalism that distinguish myths from historical truth.

What will happen to parliament is still largely dependent on the parliamentary majority in power not to slaughter a whole bull for one kilogram of meat by making wrong moves. If they leave the framework of the Prespa Agreement, which is a condition for Euro-Atlantic integration, and engage in constitutional changes that are not the subject of this Agreement, then it is easy to enter an even more difficult crisis and greater uncertainty. At the moment, new unnecessary bargains will turn into blackmail from which there is no way out.

The second thing is that the government should not distance itself from the everyday problems of the citizens.It will have to take great responsibility to grasp the public’s high sensitivity to any abuse of power very seriously. That is the best thing that has happened to Macedonia after the fall of the regime of Gruevski. Macedonia already has a critical mass.