1 However hard I try, I simply can’t imagine what goes on inside the heads of party foot soldiers elected by the public to Parliament, municipal councils or the City of Skopje Council. Do they leave half their brain on the bedside table every morning and, relieved of the burden of common sense, head off to vote exactly as the party instructs them?

Take this, for example, can anyone give a sensible explanation as to why the VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN councillors on the City Council rejected a proposal to make a single bus ticket valid for 120 minutes from the moment it’s first validated?

Why is that such a terrible proposal? Simply because it came from Levica councillor Darja Mustafaoğlu, who suggested introducing the same system used virtually everywhere else in the world, where passengers don’t have to buy a second ticket when changing buses while travelling in the same direction. Just as they do in every normal city. It is hardly the only normal thing Skopje lacks, but at least this is something that could be implemented without much difficulty.

And it’s not just about Levica. It’s hardly the first time the government has rejected a proposal out of spite, out of sheer spite, simply because it came from the opposition, or even from citizens’ initiatives.

This isn’t a question of protecting the national identity, making monumental strategic decisions, safeguarding national security, refusing to bow to anyone or licking anyone’s boots. No. We’re talking about the most basic local measure imaginable, one that would make everyday life easier for ordinary people. There aren’t enough buses, the existing ones are hopelessly infrequent, timetables are unreliable, entire neighbourhoods are poorly connected to public transport, and yet the least they could do is allow those who have to change buses to keep using the ticket they have already paid for for another two hours.

But there’s no point looking for logic in the mind of a hardcore party lackey. How could someone else possibly come up with an idea that never occurred to them, simply because party headquarters hadn’t instructed them to come up with it? Besides, the general party line is to oppose absolutely everything proposed by the opposition or by independent citizens’ initiatives. Above all, anything that happens to make sense.

I’d love to know how many of those VMRO-DPMNE and VLEN councillors actually travelled to that council meeting by public bus. Or did they drive there instead and park their cars on the grass around the park? They were probably the first to lecture everyone else about the “dregs of society” and “the swamp”…

Why, for instance, were VMRO-DPMNE councillors against the BRT system before, but are now suddenly in favour of it? Why did they refuse to back their own mayor, Danela Arsovska, when she proposed buying new buses, despite winning the election together on a promise of free public transport?

Had they approved Arsovska’s buses, they would be arriving about now and their own Orce Gjorgjievski would no doubt be posing for photographs beside them. Had they approved Shilegov’s BRT project, drones would now be zooming in on Orce Gjorgjievski happily riding it.

Don’t look for logic in the minds of party lackeys.

2 If those in power can’t recognise something that’s in the public interest, then there’s no need for Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos to  bother coming here to tell us that once accession negotiations begin, additional EU funding for the country’s development and growth will become available. There are only two possible explanations. Either the government can’t recognise the benefits of joining the European Union, or it simply doesn’t care about what benefits the citizens.

This time the Commissioner spared us last year’s stories about ajvar, tavche gravche and stuffed peppers as symbols of our identity. This time she was refreshingly practical. Include the Bulgarians in the Constitution, let the accession talks begin, and you will receive significantly more money.

“You have your place in the European Union as a full member state, and let us work together to make that happen,” Kos said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski.

The trouble is that the European Union isn’t exactly one hundred per cent trustworthy. Bulgaria is even less so. Even so, the EU appears determined to deliver on this particular commitment. So perhaps we should help it for our own sake. Let’s take the first step and amend the Constitution to include the Bulgarians and then we can continue arguing over every subsequent step whenever Bulgaria decides to block us again. Rather than endlessly predicting disaster and asking “what if?”, or counting the Bulgarian passports of politicians who sell us patriotism, we should seize this moment, make use of the development funding on offer, sit down with the EU member states at the negotiating table, and get on with the job at home.

If we must cry, we can always cry tomorrow.

Or perhaps we won’t have to.

To be clear, I have no desire whatsoever to amend the Constitution in this way. Nor do I believe Bulgarians has earned a place in the Preamble, given the hostile conduct of its own state towards us. And I remain deeply angry that the European Union has allowed the primitive demands of one of its member states to become a condition for another country’s accession.

But the reality is that the EU cannot provide any guarantees. We’ve spent the past twenty years watching it refuse to change its rules for our sake. Who knows what governments will come to power across the Union in the years ahead, whether they’ll be in favour of enlargement, or whether they’ll still be willing to invest in the Western Balkans. That’s precisely why the moment is now. If we take the offer, fine. If we refuse it, fine as well. But if we let this opportunity slip away, nobody in Brussels is going to lose any sleep over us. The only people who might benefit are those in power here, because they will have even freer hands to do as they please, while always having a convenient excuse for poor governance.

Unfortunately, that’s how things stand. No matter how much we dislike what’s being asked of us, no matter how angry we may be that the EU failed to keep its promises after the Prespa Agreement, these are rare moments when another opportunity opens up to move one step closer to membership. It is rather like a one-way ticket, but a time-based ticket, when the journey may not be straightforward, but at least you have set off and you know where you’re headed.

A wise government would seize that opportunity for the benefit of its citizens. I doubt this one will, given that it was unwilling, out of nothing more than sheer spite, even to introduce a simple time-based ticket for Skopje’s public transport.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski