Poposki as Plenkovic, but Mickoski is no Karamarko

Former Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki yesterday refused to comment on the speculation that he was eyeing the leader’s post in VMRO-DPMNE. He was reportedly was out of the country for the New Year’s holidays, but he still rarely appears in the public, even in the Assembly, where he is a Member of Parliament.

Poposki’s supporters will say that his frequent absences from the country, or his visits to Brussels, are in favor of the Brussels-Washington lobby, which means that his chances grow dramatically. In this context, a parallel with Croatia and HDZ (the Croatian Democratic Union) – the sister party of VMRO-DPMNE, which did not rule the country on just two occasions since declaring independence.

Plenkovic from Brussels to “Banski Dvori”

The party that was once led by Franjo Tudjman first succumbed right after his death, after which Ivica Racan and SDP (Social Democratic Party) came in for the second time after the break out of Ivo Sanader’s corruption scandals. The “untouchable” prime minister began to lose power after the public began to find out that he privately arranged the sale of state-owned firms, controlled the media, obtained money by force from owners of private firms etc. The HDZ was replaced by the SDP headed by Igor Milanovic, but the hopes melted soon that there will ever be rule of law in the country, so the “patriots” returned to power.
The new Prime Minister, Tomislav Karamarko, did not cope with the role he received and failed to stop the “hardline” wing of the party, to accept European values ​​and to democratize the society. It was a signal that he needed to be removed from the post, so in the media a scandal broke out involving his wife, from which Karamarko could not get away. As head of the government was named Tihomir Oreshkovik, a prominent businessman from an emigrant family in Canada who was struggling with knowledge of Croatian language, and even more so with the processes and ways in which this Balkan country works.

During that time, Andrej Plenkovic was a Member of the European Parliament in Brussels. In June 2016, from the center of the EU he said it was time for the HDZ to cleanse from incompetent and corrupt members. He himself ran for president of the party and won in the extraordinary congress. In September the very same year, he won the parliamentary elections with the party. He became Prime Minister.

“Plenkovic, as a modern politician, managed to amortize the nationalist wing of the party, albeit holding onto the ideals of the party. And he never publicly attacked the policies of his predecessors. There is support both inside and outside,” it is said in the VMRO circles as an argument of the claims that Poposki could be catapulted into the “White Palace”.

However, as counter-arguments, it is mentioned that VMRO-DPMNE had its catharsis with the change of Nikola Gruevski and Saso Mijalkov. The new leadership, headed by Hristijan Mickoski, does not have any wiretapped conversations from the so-called “bombs”, and there are no investigations against them. Mickoski’s only similarity with Karamarko is that the international partners were not inclined to both of them.

I have no mandate to change the name

Nikola Poposki elegantly got rid of the obligation in the Parliament to vote “in favor” or “against” the name agreement, although he previously wrote on Facebook that “based on the election for VMRO-DPMNE MP and our election programme, it is clear that I do not have mandate and I do not participate in the change of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia in order to change the constitutional name.” The day of voting – on October 19, he was the only absent MP in the parliamentary hall. It can be interpreted as a calculated move, because one day it may be important for the world power centers that he was not “against” the Prespa agreement, that is, the VMRO representatives that he was not “in favor” changing the name.

“I congratulate the anniversary of the organization of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle! Once they needed guns and daggers. Today we need wisdom and work in peace. The goal remains: a revolutionary approach for advanced Macedonia. Long live VMRO, long live Macedonia,” Poposki wrote on October 23 – the day when the anniversary of the formation of the historic VMRO was marked.

According information received by Nezavisen Vesnik/Independent daily newspaper, the opposition party VMRO is waiting for the right moment to return to the fight for power in the “White Palace”. This, according to the assumptions, would have been the presidential election, where the possible failure of the opposition would give wind in the backs of the expelled to criticize the new leadership of the party, although they are aware that the ruling party has not yet won the election for president. Former Minister of Health, Nikola Todorov, who told Mickoski to pack up his suitcases, is in the lead if he fails to win the upcoming presidential election in times of such an incompetent government. According to certain information, an extraordinary congress would be convened immediately thereafter.

There is currently no mood for the replacement of Mickoski. He has complete control over the executive and central committee, and he also took municipal committees under its control. People of confidence are also assigned to the Union of Women, or the Union of Young Forces. His rating is constantly on the rise, and he ranks first among right-wing leaders. But things in politics could change within an hour. In that sense, the results of the presidential election will dictate their next steps.

Goran Adamovski