Opposition’s “Working Summer” goes on vacation

Developments over the leaders’ meetings, the scheduled referendum without an agreement reached between the parties, the Ilinden holiday, summer holidays, but also the internal battles “cooled down” the planned “Working Summer” of VMRO-DPMNE. When leader Hristijan Mickoski threatened to clear up the crimes of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev from the square in Kavadarci on July 15, no one assumed that thirty days later, it would be the last mass gathering of the opposition. A rally in Kicevo was scheduled for the following week, which was postponed due to a series of leadership meetings with the Club of Representatives. Afterwards, a two-week break was announced for the Ilinden holiday, but the Holy Mother of God holiday is approaching, and most of the party’s leadership is on vacation.
However, VMRO-DPMNE is convinced that the activities are taking place in accordance with the determined dynamics, so about 50,000 homes were visited in the past few weeks.
“The activities go on continuously, there will be new mass rallies, we will soon determine our next steps. We noticed revolt among citizens, which is not only because of the agreement with Greece. Their expectations were betrayed and they are very disappointed by the government. They are mostly dissatisfied with the economy and solving the real problems,” VMRO-DPMNE says.
So far, four major rallies have been held in Skopje, Bitola, Strumica and Kavadarci. A total of 1,500 working teams of four people were formed, whose task is to travel the whole country. Through meetings with citizens, as well as target groups like farmers, craftsmen, the young, redundant workers, businessmen etc. we are looking for solutions that will be translated into the New Testament program.
In fact, according to information obtained by Nezavisen/Independent, the biggest preoccupation at the moment at the ‘White Palace’ is positioning around the referendum vote on the agreement with Greece on the name. It’s no secret that the party is at a crossroads and will hardly be able to please all interested parties. On one hand, the party feels great pressure from the international community, even the sister European parties, to actively take part in the referendum, even if its members voted against it, thus fulfilling the census. On the other hand, a good part of the membership, headed by former Foreign Minister and current MP Antonio Milososki, insist on a boycott, hoping that the agreement with Athens will fail. Lastly, perhaps surprisingly, VMRO-DPMNE is proclaiming a stream that is openly committed not only to voting on September 30, but also for supporting the agreement between the governments of Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, which would ultimately put an end to almost the thirty-decade name dispute, and the doors of the Euro-Atlantic structures would be unlocked for our country. Leaders of the current are members of the party’s “reformer” wing, which, after Nikola Gruevski’s departure from the leadership position, succeeds in warming relations with the new leadership led by Hristijan Mickoski, with whom they agreed to adopt a new status, therefore, for example, Kostadin Bogdanov became a member of the Executive Committee. It is precisely he, in an article for Nezavisen/Independent newspaper, called on his party supporters to take responsibility.
“After 25 years of domestic and foreign discussions over the key obligation arising from UN Resolution 817, and after 25 years of self-deception that “time on our side” and that we will be able to build a civilized state without complying with the internationally undertaken obligation of 1993, today, in front of the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, there is a proposal-decision for fulfillment of the legate. A draft decision for which each individual, being sovereign in this country, will be able to express his / her personal position. A draft decision whose decision can essentially divert the future of the state from one direction to another. A question which also deserves an answer directly from the sovereign – the citizens. Therefore, we must not avoid personal responsibility at these key moments and hide behind the boycott. We must not give up our personal right to self-determination about the future and destiny of the state, and in that way to transfer it to the Assembly or the parties. Not only because the referendum is envisaged in the programs of key political parties as a mandatory step towards meeting the obligation of the Resolution (817), but mostly for the sake of ourselves, as sovereign and independent decision makers for the future and fate of our country,” Bogdanov said.
President Mickoski announced that the decision about the (non) participation of VMRO-DPMNE in the upcoming referendum will be made no later than September 10, when the start of the campaign is scheduled.
“VMRO-DPMNE’s “Summer for Macedonia” campaign is currently taking place, we are constantly on the field among the citizens, we talk with hundreds of citizens on a daily basis, we consult the party bodies, so in the following period we will have a meeting of the Executive and the Central committee of the party. In such important historical moments for Macedonia, a thorough and exhaustive debate in the society is necessary,” Mickoski said yesterday in Skopje.
Asked whether the party would participate in the information campaign for the name issue, said the government has no capacity to cope with such a challenge, and assessed that the public in Macedonia will soon witness another fiasco, which, he said, will be abundant with great crimes, half-truths and undefined things.
“We see that the government has based its entire campaign on the preserving of identity. Here is one question to the Government and to all those who support this thesis that the identity is being preserved: how is the identity preserved when the institutional identity is lost? “ Mickoski asked.
According to him, it is not just about whether the agreement with Greece will succeed or not, but for many more hidden dangers that have dragged on in the past period.
“We witnessed such a danger when the Prime Minister was put in an awkward situation to have to apologize and was called by the President of Bulgaria, therefore we have such an exhibitionist politics that has been going on for 15 months, led by the government of SDSM. We need reforms in key areas,” added Mickoski.

Goran Adamovski