The dream and reality of Gruevski

Erol Rizaov

Immediately after the great victory in the 2006 parliamentary election, Nikola Gruevski, still not an official prime minister, spoke of his dream in front of the Macedonian public. His speech in Trnovo has long been faded and forgotten since his vision for Macedonia quickly disappeared, as did his dream. Then, the young man appeared almost like Martin Luther King. He said, I have a dream that I must make a reality. “My dream will not be fulfilled until we come out of this deep economic crisis in which the citizens of Macedonia live. My dream will not be fulfilled until our country joins the family of European nations in Europe without borders, where we will achieve our goal of having a united Macedonia within the EU. Our dream will not be fulfilled until we see Macedonia as a NATO member.” The leader of the new government Gruevski said this at Ilinden 2006 on his first address as future prime minister at the 35th emigrant meeting in the village of Trnovo.

Why did Gruevski give up his dream so quickly and why did he go in the opposite direction, where did he make his strategic mistakes, he is highly unlikely that he would tell the truth in his memoirs that will have a good opportunity to write in the next two years. I say it is unlikely, because it is unlikely that he would admit to himself, without writing memoirs, that he has committed horrible mistakes and misdeeds. He is convinced that he has played a messianic role in the rescue of Macedonia and that he is a victim of the persecution and conspiracy of the great powers and domestic traitors. If he re-read his speech from Trnovo, he would find the biggest mistake in his pursuit of fulfilling his dreams, if he actually wrote it himself. He said the following when addressed the people: “Let us fulfill the dream of the Ilinden fighters and let’s continue our struggle until the whole world recognizes Macedonia under its constitutional name, the Republic of Macedonia.” This as a speech of a newly appointed prime minister on Ilinden is susceptible, but for an obsession for 11 years, as if he was the prime minister of a world power, is just an impossible dream.

Even if Nikola Gruevski stayed only on this fundamental and biggest mistake in his reign, without accepting the compromise with Greece and seeking the impossible, he would not have experienced his bad fate. He was brought before the prison gates by other mistakes with the abuse of power and the installation of the regime, with violations of human rights and freedoms, up to capturing Macedonia together with his like-minded people and associates from the top of VMRO-DPMNE. Many horrible abuses, years of wiretapping of thousands of public figures, election rigging, organized crime, corruption, relentless spending of the citizens’ money just to annoy the Greeks, with the search for a glorious past that turned into an anti-company due to which the whole world mocked us and where we lost all s. Here are the reasons for his bad fate.

On one occasion, President Kiro Gligorov, in his elderly age, retired for the second time, when he listed the most famous citizens of Stip, an impressive list of Macedonian history figures, I noticed that he skipped Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. He responded laconically: Yes, he was also born in Stip, but he will end up badly. And that was it. Not one word more, perhaps because the winner of the higher German nomination for the conquest of Mount Everest in diplomacy approached us, a native of Stip as well, who ended up badly even before Gruevski, even though he had not yet paid for his crimes. Nowadays, when the former Prime Minister Gruevski is constantly in the news every day, when he would go to prison etc., Gligorov’s prophecy comes to my mind many times. This was not a prophecy, but life-long experience of an old sage who had passed through thick and thin in politics and in his personal life.

Although I devoted a lot of articles to him, as finance minister in the government of Ljubco Georgievski, and as the leader of the opposition, especially as prime minister and as the main actor of the biggest scandal after the ‘bomb blast” from wiretapped phone conversations, Gruevski is now in the center of public attention in Macedonia, and beyond its borders. It is hard to skip him as much as I try not to deal with politicians who are not in high positions and do not have the same power as when they are in power. The news that Gruevski was sentenced to prison and is going to jail is the first and so far the only historical fact that in Macedonia that abuse of power and violation of laws is a non-worthwhile investment. It’s the greatest, realistic warning for everyone in the top – that no one is untouchable and that no one can hope to hinder justice and get out of the deserved punishment.

If Gruevski goes to pay for his sins, then all for which there is evidence that they have broken the law will go to prison one by one. The same is awaiting all those who today easily accept posts to realize their political goals by force and abuse of office, in order to get rich illegally and to violate basic human rights and freedoms, to spend money from the state treasury without control and without filing report.
This is called the rule of law that Macedonia needs more than clean air. Anyone in high office should have genuine associates and legal experts, not someone who gives blessings to every decision. Fear not to break the law is the best prevention for a society attacked by decades of crime and corruption epidemics, the biggest cause of poverty and misery, as well as the easy reach of the whip from a position of force and abuse of authority. Here are the reasons for the terrible partisation and degradation of the institutions of the system that turned justice from defenders of crime and abuse.

The screams and complaints that it is a political persecution and a revenge against different-minded people, a regular image when officials are in court, in courtrooms they do not have that strength as in the streets, in parliament and in the media when they hold patriotic speeches. In a court that is not under the dictate of politics, the evidence of the crimes committed is given without any emotion. The pathetic, emotional and oratory skills of defense do not help. Facts and evidence are being sought. The image of rallies and protests with that in court is very different, in court you cannot talk about things you are not asked, and even if you do it doesn’t matter.

The Macedonian judiciary is still far from infallibility and impartiality. But, following these latest judgments, it is on the right path to establish confidence in the public. The politicians and top officials’ fear and cautiousness that one day they could be seated on the defendant’s bench if they do not respect the law is already clearly noticeable. The reactions of the public and the media to each and every small suspicion of reaching into the state treasury and any abuse are very pleasing. It is no longer considered hypersensitivity, as we usually express ourselves, but as catching the robber’s hand in our pocket.