1 Will someone please make the Prime Minister some mint tea, for crying out loud? He went to Washington to commemorate the 75th anniversary of NATO, sat at the same table with 31 other heads of states and governments, 10 NATO partners, they honoured him with the full treatment, and yet he just wouldn’t stop complaining about how it makes him sick every time he needs to pronounce “North Macedonia.”
We don’t know what Mickoski had talked about inside and how he had behaved, but we do know that outside, in the middle of the night, he shot a video of himself to address the Macedonian citizens. And as lightnings were flashing behind him, he proclaimed to us that there, in Washington, on the birthday of the world’s most powerful military and political alliance, he had sent a clear message that he would make Macedonia proud again and that he wouldn’t be a yes-man as the previous government had been for seven years.
Are the elections over? Where is our Prime Minister? Is he on some parallel Ilinden celebration in Tashmarunishta? Or, on a NATO summit? He wants to restore the country’s pride at a time when he is witnessing some of the country’s proudest historical moments. Would Mickoski have ever lived to sit at a White House dinner, if it wasn’t for that “North” that we had to accept as a sacrifice to enter NATO? There you go, the sacrifice was worth it. There you go, a Macedonian Prime Minister, no matter who he is, no matter if it is now or in the future, is sitting at the same table with the most powerful leaders who decide on the world’s security and they treat him as an equal to them, even though he comes from a small and poor country.
And yet, Mickoski seems to care more about being the local hero, someone who gets applauded and given cheers along the lines of “yeah, you gave them a piece of your mind,” rather than being important at the common table where geostrategic decisions are being made about the world’s security. He went to the centre of world politics and from there, he continued to fight his domestic political opponents. He portrays SDSM’s greatest achievement during their time in power, as a defeat. As if, the biggest evil that Zoran Zaev’s government ever did to him was that it provided for him to be right there at that place, representing the country. And so, he was given the unpleasant task of having a dinner with Biden.
Ah well, what is left for him to do rather than reap what he sowed. The previous government pulled a prank on us and got us into NATO.
His stomach hurt. If we weren’t in NATO, his head would’ve hurt and who knows what else. If the state existed at all.
2 Besides still arguing with SDSM, he still argues with Greece too. At the door step of the Summit, when asked a question, he refused to use the country’s constitutional name, which the Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis chose to ignore this time, due to the simple reason that behind closed doors, far from the eyes of the party rally-clappers, Mickovski had spoken on behalf of North Macedonia.
There’s the aggression towards Ukraine, first war of such a size since World War II, there’s the war in Gaza, there’s China, the world is at a boiling point… They really have nothing better to do than concern about whether the signposts at the border say Skopje or Skopia. Let me be politically correct here, they couldn’t give a toss whether your stomach hurt. If it hurts, it will pass.
Sometimes in life you make hard decisions, but you don’t tell them every day. Everyone goes through some pain, and yet they won’t let the world know about it.
3 Yes. So it was. We have made a big sacrifice, but the benefit is crucial to us. The most important thing is that NATO did not let us down, that we are here, equal to everyone, so let’s try and see what we can do with the EU. Because, even though the Bulgarian Prime Minister in Washington said that “we are more than just neighbours”, it is Bulgaria who is our nemesis in the EU. Greece has been correct after Prespa.
So, if Prime Minister Mickoski is sincere when he speaks about internal reconciliation and cohesiveness, then let him close that damn story about the name, and better not carry on fighting with Greece. He keeps the topic alive with every regret. In Washington we heard the “name dispute” phrase again! There is no dispute. That matter is done. The dispute is over, settled by a peace treaty in the United Nations. There is no return of the name. This is not Gruevski’s metal fence, so that we return it with a government’s decision.
That is it. It is over, close that conversation and – let’s move on. You are in NATO. In the most powerful alliance. And you are looking to utilize that as much as possible. But no, instead of new doors opening to us, we had to deal with ourselves again. We cannot see the bigger picture. And see ourselves as part of it.
4 I am writing this column from Washington. NATO celebrates 75 years of its existence, and I celebrate 33 years of following Macedonia’s long Euro-Atlantic journey ever since it first proclaimed its independence. And I am happy because this time I am reporting about a nice event on that journey – Macedonia is an equal member of NATO.
Forgive me for sharing my personal emotions, but when I saw myself in the press center of the NATO Summit in Washington, I remembered the time when as a novice journalist, I reported from the Summit of the then European Community (EC) in Edinburgh, in December of 1992. At the previous Summit, the unfortunate Lisbon Declaration was brought, proclaiming that no European country shall ever recognize a state which contains the word Macedonia in its name. And we are grateful to our British friends who, shortly after, took over the presidency of the EC and together with the pragmatic Americans managed to free us from the captivity of the European Community and transferred the Macedonian issue to the United Nations.
When Macedonia and Greece started the name negotiations in the early 1990s, one of the articles I wrote in “Vecher” at the time was entitled “If we are to bargain, let us at least make something out of it”. To many, that title was controversial, because neither the state establishment, nor the larger part of the citizens then did not want to admit to themselves that we were, in fact, negotiating.
Well, we were negotiating, and we have been negotiating for 30 years. And we have made something out of it. Here, the benefit can be best seen at the NATO Summit in Washington. Coming from a “never Macedonia”, to a state whose national flag is flown alongside those of countries that make up the world’s most powerful military and political alliance. And on top of that, in Washington, where 75 years ago the Alliance was founded. From “never Macedonia” to North Macedonia as a participant in the birthday party. And here we are, sitting at the same table with much more powerful, richer and bigger countries than us, where geostrategic policies are being shaped. At that same table in the past, our own destiny was shaped too, but we weren’t there.
Even if it hurts, it’ll pass.
