1 It’s not us whom the government should convince that we are Europe. We had such a campaign – “The Sun is a Star” in 2005 when we became candidates for the EU. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of Macedonian citizens have left and are already living in the EU, while the rest of us who stayed here, in the vast majority, are still dreaming of the EU.

It’s time for a new campaign: “No to a New Veto”. Instead of us, it’s the EU our government should convince that if they are sincere when they say they’ve decided to expand to the Western Balkans, they should provide Macedonians with guarantees that there won’t be a new veto. Any guarantees. In any shape or form. And it’s time for the government to no longer accept their excuse that no one can guarantee anything. We’ve seen that the EU can give guarantees when it wants to. They’re creative. They’ll come up with something inventive. It’s a matter of politics, not mathematics.

Why don’t they breathe down their necks? Instead, our government is waging a crusade at home against all of us who demand such guarantees. Getting on bad terms with all those who fear that Bulgaria, even after the change of the Constitution, will persist in refusing to recognise the uniqueness of the Macedonian people and the Macedonian language. And with the Bulgarisation of EU values, the EU will continue to participate in the creation of yet another internal political crisis.

We’re turning against each other; Macedonian society has been divided once again. And we won’t stop.

What will happen if there’s a new Bulgarian veto? We’ll get the rough end of the stick again. We know that the pressure will be on us. The principle of “they’re inside, and you’re outside” will apply until we enter the EU. If we ever do. Based on the official state policy of Sofia, it’s likely they’ll come up with new vetoes on a million topics.

It’s not a matter of Euroscepticism. It’s a matter of distrust in the negotiating capacity of the current government, which tries to convince us that this is it, once we include Bulgarians in the Constitution, there won’t be any further demands. It’s also a matter of distrust in the opposition, which isn’t sincere when it says that it doesn’t accept changes to the Constitution under the dictate of Bulgaria. The same opposition that paraded Danela in Skopje and sold her as an independent candidate for mayor, bragging they’d buy buses together, and are now playing dumb –  scratch that, we take it back, and we’re expected to trust them not to change the Constitution if they gain a majority in the Assembly in the near future. Regarding DUI, during Nikola Gruevski’s first Government, they said they wouldn’t form a coalition, yet they became partners in crime, ruled for 8 years and messed everything up.

So, the topic isn’t whether we’ll change the Constitution. The topic is whether the EU will ensure there won’t be a new Bulgarian veto that would humiliate Macedonians.

It’s simple. The price we have to pay this time just to start the accession talks, not to enter the EU, is too high for us. We’re no longer in a position to overpay for something we don’t know we will get without a guarantee document. We’re not asking for a discount. Just a guarantee document.

So, we’ll change our Constitution, but you need to guarantee there won’t be a new veto from Bulgaria.

That’s all we ask from the EU. And let’s bring this chapter to an end already. And about the “We are Europe” thing – we are Europe.

2 The fact that the high-ranking U.S. diplomat Gabriel Escobar has once again come to support the EU isn’t something unexpected. Americans are here again, as usual, to try to fix the mess the EU made in the Balkans. Not because of their undying love for us. But to protect their own interests. To ensure stability in South-eastern Europe. They believe that in order to achieve that they need a stable and prosperous Macedonia, which is already a strategic partner of the USA. And at the moment, they’re aware that we can achieve that only through EU membership.

We share the same opinion.

Ever since our independence, the USA has always been there whenever Europe messed up. In 1993, along with the British, they managed to get us into the UN after the then European Community adopted the so-called Lisbon Declaration and decided to never recognise a state that would contain the word Macedonia. In 1995, they forcefully broke through the Greek embargo by unloading a ship with American grain for Macedonia at the port of Thessaloniki. In 2001 they wrote the Framework Agreement for us to prevent the conflict with the NLA from growing into a big and long civil war. In 2017 they wrote the Prespa Agreement for us and immediately, as they promised, brought us into NATO. They’re now thinking to themselves – Let’s find a way to get you into the EU so we’d have one problem less on NATO’s southern flank.

They’re protecting their own interest. And as long as our interests align, we’re ok.

3 But who’s going to listen? Hristijan Mickoski, the current leader of VMRO-DPMNE, who’s in la-la land, believing that the entire world and all of Europe are plotting against his party? That a high-ranking American diplomat is willing to hop on a plane, come to Skopje all the way from Washington and dedicate two days of his professional career just to accommodate Dimitar Kovachevski and Bujar Osmani? Why? To torture the MPs of the opposition.

Hristijan Mickoski, the guy who already envisions himself as the future prime minister.

There’s something vile in declaring you won’t accept changing the Constitution as Bulgaria dictates while not stating whether you’d consider changing the Constitution at all. And it’s not ok to say – I’ll tell you, but after I win the elections.

Mickoski, tell us before the elections, so we’d know. Will you include Bulgarians in the Constitution or not? Or, if you’re not willing to change the Constitution under these conditions, under what conditions would you change it?

But that’s Mickoski and that’s VMRO-DPMNE. We’ve been waiting for seven years for Mickoski to say something specific. He acted the same way during the name change referendum. He obstructed everything, he said “we’re not doing this”. At the same time, he doesn’t say what he wants to do. They oppose “everything”, yet they don’t say what they’re “for”.

They’re a puzzle no one can crack considering all his MPs, who are now heroically resisting the torture coming from the whole world, didn’t vote for the Law on the Use of the Macedonian language a month ago. They themselves don’t know why. The great patriots concerned about the Macedonian identity. You might try to understand why they didn’t vote – you’d think they didn’t vote out of spite. But why didn’t they vote for the Law on Interest Limitation, so it wouldn’t be possible for the interest to exceed the principal debt? You’d say, they don’t give a damn about other voters, but how do they explain to their own voters that living in debt slavery isn’t bad? And even more intriguing, how do voters believe them?

Oh man. Which voters are we talking about? The ones the U.S. Ambassador gives too much importance to when she says that citizens should put pressure on politicians to pave the way for a European future. Which citizens? The ones who still mention Nikola Gruevski in polls for rating politicians? He’s enjoying his exile in the European Union and from there, like a prophet, he writes illiterate posts on Facebook to continue sabotaging the European process. And the EU, which is selling us European values, offers a safe haven to the prime minister we’re prosecuting for robbing the country and refuses to hand him over.

4 There’s still no verdict against Nikola Gruevski and high-ranking officials accused of laundering 4.3 million euros in donations through stealing the unique master citizen numbers of VMRO-DPMNE’s membership. People donated up to 300.000 denars, but weren’t aware of it. The process has been ongoing for five years, in the basic court, at the first instance.

Lenche Ristovska is the prosecutor in this case. After she filed the charges back in the time of the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, Lenche fell in love, gave birth to twins, took maternity leave, celebrated the children’s first birthday, and the trial continued with another prosecutor…

Lenche is now back, she’s returned to work, entered the courtroom and it’s as if nothing had happened. The court is still hearing witnesses.

We’re in Europe. Our judges will be more diligent once they enter the EU.

5 Skopje reeks of wet dumpsters and dog shit, it’s suffocating in the smoke from burning landfills, stray dogs are eating us alive in the streets, there isn’t a reliable public transport, the city centre is quite literally falling apart, one bridge is closed, another is still not in use, and Mayor Danela Arsovska is planning to bring back the monument to the Kjoseto and to rename streets. She even suggested to the Council for Kjoseto not be returned in front of the courthouse where Petre Shilegov had it removed, but be relocated to a different site. Goodness gracious, what a serious approach she has in managing the capital. Everything is done according to procedure.

SDSM can only hold themselves accountable for this situation, as they didn’t melt Kjoseto into scrap metal. They could’ve finished that thing completely, to make sure not a trace of Kjoseto would remain.

But, here’s the deal, Danela is free to take Kjoseto and put it in another location. She could place it in her front yard, so she’d be able to pay homage to him alongside the guys from VMRO who brought her to power. And if she wants to rename streets, let her rename only her street. And then let her go and update her documents with the new address.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski