The king is dead, long live the king

Erol Rizaov

A new grotesque, sad and funny to tears, is the attempt to portray Nikola Gruevski as a saint, a martyr, a victim of domestic traitors and snitches and foreign sponsors who disfigure Macedonia and deface the Macedonian people. The heirs of the throne in the party are trying to build a cult out of a person with the long-known doctrine of praising the tyrants: his majesty is a God sent angel, but those around him turned their backs on him, did not carry out his orders anymore, therefore Macedonia is left to suffer. The greatest son that is born once in a thousand years has been betrayed by these freaks. He is an extract of centuries-old folk wisdom contained in one man, once said and wrote the famous Ljubisa Georgievski, when the former leader was at the height of his power.
Today, it was quite enough that the director leaning on a walking stick came to worship to the theater of a party performance, a strong parody, without the protagonist of the stage playing the main role, but his spirit was in every spoken word. On the 125th anniversary of VMRO, we watched a theatrical drama called – “The king is dead, long live the king”.

The gentry thought and thought, with a halo of a martyr that they would put on the head of Nikola Gruevski before going to prison, how to save him from prison, as well as themselves, and the state from evil and sins. And they thought of a way. For everything that is wrong with Macedonia, those who are opposed and disagree with the emperor and his successors are to be blamed. Then they took to clean the party of traitors, snitches, bandits… of all the bastards that betrayed the saint and poured garbage into the enemy’s yard. They have transferred the mortgage for their debt to political opponents. Thus, the ‘Itar Pejo’ people in VMRO-DPMNE thought of clearing up with everything that represents burden and ballast to them. They scream loudly, we are giving you those who have betrayed us for free, they are yours now, including the sins that they have done, they are your new coalition partners, so you can see what it was like for us. They betrayed the Apostle of VMRO-DPMNE and forfeited the icon of the saint, who will rot in prison innocent because of them. We will not allow that, and we will ask for not pardon, not reconciliation, not amnesty, not abolition, but a law above all laws, a king’s ordinance, to release all who are followers of the old and the new king and to be declared as patriots and heroes.

The grotesque becomes a tragedy after the drama reached the courtyard where VMRO-DPMNE unloaded its ballast and prescribed its mortgage at the expense of the government and the coalition of government to pay the debt of the royal camarilla along with the costs for the court jokers and entertainers, for the great deeds and buildings in honor of the emperor, a fable-worthy debt packed for 11 whole years, billions of denars from the robbed and impoverished people. Sinners in the new church have signed indulgences without changing their faith. Whether the judges will forgive their sins will depend on politics. Poor Macedonia, should determine its European future by accepting indulgences for the forgiveness of the sins of the sinners against which they rebelled and bombarded them. Now, when they choose which is the smaller of the two great evils, they say let him decide on a commission for forgiveness and reconciliation. The assembly will be a religious temple for absolution of sins, and a parliamentary session will be held in the cathedral, where the bishops will crown the new king and open the debate – which one is a greater sin: the agreement with Greece, the constitutional changes or the membership in NATO and the EU.

The grotesque that became a parody, then a tragedy, then a church procession, was transferred to the mosque as a compulsory prayer for additional constitutional changes when the Pandora’s Box was already opened. Albanian coalition partners prepare amendments to the Albanian constitution by forgetting the law on languages ​​that has been passed twice in parliament and awaiting the signature of the president of the country and a question of the day is when it will be published in the “Official Gazette”, the latter has not been signed by the president, because when he is not able to perform his duty, that may be done by the President of the Assembly who replaces him in his capacity to do his job. The efforts for additional constitutional changes that are not foreseen in the Prespa agreement cannot be taken otherwise than as conditioning and blackmailing at a very delicate moment of achieving historic goals. So, it is not about the justification of the demands, but about the consequences that would be caused by such a completely wrong move at a wrong time, which could question the adoption of the constitutional changes, and thus the Euro-Atlantic integrations. In addition to the law on expanding the use of Albanian language in Macedonia and EU negotiations, in their chapters, they resolve a number of questions about citizens’ rights, so that there will be enough opportunities to build a civic concept, if that is the sincere intention of the proposers of additional constitutional change now.

What can Zoran Zaev and the government choose and reject in this situation in the fragile two-thirds majority in which all have great demands. MPs from VMRO-DPMNE and other opposition parties who have deferred to vote on their conviction to start the procedure for constitutional changes have their own conditions publicly submitted to parliament. Some of them are not at all easy.
VMRO-DPMNE prepares a law for urgent procedure for them to be released from prosecution, which will declare innocent of all those who remained loyal to the party and Gruevski, and are accused of serious crimes. Not only for the events of April 27, but also for other crimes the SPO and other prosecution offices are investigating. The messages from consultations with citizens in the referendum are not less important and difficult and should not be lost to those who voted “for” and those who voted “against” and those who did not vote, abstained, boycotted…

What is the best and most correct solution in such a really difficult situation? If European pragmatism in politics is always applied, which always starts from the higher state interests, Prime Minister Zaev and the government together with the coalition partners should not have any dilemmas, although the decisions are severe with a serious blow to the rating of the government. Their willingness to sacrifice for a higher order determines to accept the lesser evil without hesitation as before. This can be done if the weight of responsibility ranges from the highest to the lowest culprits for the crimes committed by the previous government and the top of VMRO-DPMNE. Courts and justice must not be obstructed in their work with any gesture and slightest pressure. It would be the biggest mistake that can be made in such a difficult and significant, according to many crucial historic moments. As for political decisions, whether forgiveness, reconciliation, pardon, amnesty or abolition, there should be accountability. It is the sacrifice that must be carried in the next few months in Macedonia.

This is one of the biggest exams that Macedonia has taken since declaring independence. For the next ten years, if Macedonia becomes a NATO member next year and starts negotiations with the EU, it will be the most dramatic decade in the recent history of the Macedonian state. Many things must change not only in the laws, but also in the awareness of the citizens. European values ​​cannot be passed only by laws.