1 “I have a gut feeling,” said Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, “that soon high-ranking officials from the previous SDSM government, former prime ministers, heads of government and their family members will be subjected to certain persecutions. I’m not saying I have information; I have a gut feeling.”
Since when has the Prime Minister’s personal gut feeling mattered more than actual information? Since the moment the new State Prosecutor, Nenad Saveski, became expected to have a feel for his gut feelings. As if it weren’t enough that, immediately after his appointment, he was handed instructions by Prime Minister Mickoski, who publicly declared from the parliamentary rostrum what he expected of him, he’ll now have to take the Prime Minister’s gut feelings into account as well. Especially given that Mickoski says that his gut feelings about prosecuting former SDSM officials are growing stronger by the day.
Mickoski can do whatever he wants. Quite literally whatever he wants, but, unlike previous prime ministers, he doesn’t even bother to hide it. When a prime minister gives a task, it must be carried out. His gut feelings function as a work order for the prosecutor. Otherwise, he’ll fire him. The same way he appointed him.
Only, if they’re going to prosecute SDSM officials, let them at least be gentlemen about it, as SDSM was when it prosecuted VMRO-DPMNE officials, and allowed Nikola Gruevski to flee the country. As for those who didn’t flee, the law was amended to make it possible for the statute of limitations on their cases to expire faster. And then the government will say that they’ll put them in prison. If they return. And if their cases haven’t expired.
2 Prime Minister Mickoski scared the life out of us when he scheduled a press conference in the middle of a long weekend. God forbid, one can imagine anything when a prime minister makes an extraordinary appearance just hours before Easter. Then again, he only says nice things, so he announced to the public that he expects the Energy Regulatory Commission to adopt a decision at its next session to reduce fuel prices.
So Mickoski isn’t just a prosecutor. He’s also the president of the Energy Regulatory Commission. Only, unlike decisions on who should be prosecuted, which he makes on the basis of gut feelings and without any information, decisions on fuel prices are based on “figures and numbers”. His words.
He double-checked. To make sure his figures add up, he’s also run the numbers. Just as, to ensure that former SDSM officials are prosecuted, he has a gut feeling that it will be “prime ministers and heads of government”.
What are we supposed to do now? Fill up this weekend or wait until Monday night? What do the Prime Minister’s figures and numbers say? What fuel prices does he expect the Regulatory Commission to set?
3 The “Safe City” traffic monitoring system is working, fines issued by the cameras are delivered electronically, drivers who commit violations pay them, citizens have largely accepted the changes, new habits are slowly taking hold. However…
Citizens who’ve paid their fines must still take proof to the nearest police station, with a printed bank payment slip and a copy of the violation report. And there, irritated citizens stand in a queue to prove that they’ve paid their fine. So you have to leave work, park outside a bank, then outside a police station, pay for parking, photocopy the documents, pay bank fees… Getting angry is provided free of charge by the state.
A state run by officials with a proven criminal record, not just on the basis of gut feelings, but with actual convictions for serious crimes, in more than one government, to make matters worse, treats all of us as if we were like them. In the eyes of the government, we’re all criminals, forced to prove ourselves even when we dutifully pay our traffic fines.
Why does everything the state produces, even a good service such as the “Safe City” system, end up reduced to severe harassment? Because the government can do whatever it wants.
4 I’m not surprised that the police detect violations digitally, as befits the 21st century, yet punish them manually, as in the 20th century. What does surprise me is that when we went to the Traffic Police headquarters to photograph the people queueing to prove they’re responsible citizens, they hid from the camera – they’re indignant but ask us not to mention them by name. What will they do to you if you protest out loud? Will they give you another fine? Will they beat you up outside the police station? What are you afraid of, for God’s sake? We’ve been living in a democracy for 35 years.
I was even more disappointed when, a few months ago, I happened to find myself in a queue for insulin at the Skopje Polyclinic “Bucharest”. The queue had formed because the polyclinic had been without internet for several days, so insulin wasn’t being distributed. People had come for their regular monthly therapy, yet they begged me not to photograph them. Why? Without insulin, people die. Who, exactly, would get angry with them? The government we pay? Would it kill them prematurely if they dared to demand what is rightfully theirs out loud? Surely the government isn’t so insensitive, especially with such a sensitive prime minister.
A government full of gut feelings, but no feel for when enough is enough.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
