1 After the statement by SDSM leader Venko Filipche, acknowledging that during the campaign they realised the mistake they had made with the amendments to the Criminal Code, which allowed the statute of limitations to expire on high-corruption cases, and after  Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s response, it seems as if they are both under some kind of medical treatment. It’s as if Filipche has performed brain surgery on himself, and as if Mickoski has taken an amnesia pill.

SDSM realised their mistake during the campaign. Before the campaign, however, they couldn’t see it, despite the entire public telling them those amendments were unlawful, and the European Union warning them about abusing the European flag. Plus, this isn’t just any mistake, so the phrase “coming clean is half the battle” doesn’t really apply. “Oh, silly us, we made a mistake, we granted pardons to all VMRO officials accused of crime and corruption. Who knew that the compensation would have to be paid with your money?”

It was a violation of the legal system.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski acts as if he’s forgotten that VMRO-DPMNE was an accomplice in passing the amendments to the Criminal Code by ensuring a quorum at the parliamentary session. Naturally, he doesn’t feel like listening when Filipche demands a new Criminal Code, simply because VMRO officials are the ones who were saved by it. He even dares to preach that citizens will now pay the compensation, because thanks to this law, his guys had their cases become obsolete overnight, saving them from criminal prosecution. At the moment, I can think of a few of them who have become high officials – Antonio Miloshoski, the Vice President of the Parliament, Minister Ljupcho Dimovski, the Secretary General of the Government Igor Janushev.

As if the amendments to the Criminal Code happened 100 years ago. As if the trials against officials from Nikola Gruevski’s Government took place in the previous century. It hasn’t been a year since the amendments were passed in Parliament, and the court cases have faded one by one by becoming obsolete.

Not all of us are under medical treatment for amnesia, are we?

2 I’ve been reading the statements about the handover of the office of deputy ministers, and for the life of me, I can’t understand why deputy ministers exist in the first place. Even if we try to understand, you’d think to yourself – okay, they do exist, but what do deputy ministers actually do? Among the general secretaries, state secretaries, heads of cabinets and advisers of each minister, I really want to know what the value of the position of deputy minister is, apart from satisfying the parties’ appetites for an official position with a good salary, a company car, a secretary, a cabinet, and fair representation, if the minister is Macedonian, the deputy should be Albanian…

I also can’t find a reasonable explanation for why every change of government always leads to all directors of state institutions being replaced immediately, appointing acting directors without publishing an advert – from directors of state enterprises to head nurses in hospitals, directors of cultural centres, theatres and kindergartens, national coordinators for anything and everything, all the way to the transplant coordinator and her deputy. This nonsense has gone too far – was the state going to fall apart if a party didn’t replace the director of “Tanec?” Did they dance the “Heavy One” too lightly? Did they not kneel long enough? Perhaps, “Tanec” is lucky because the new director comes from the ensemble, where she’s a prominent member. According to her CV, she’s far more qualified than the overhired deputy ministers brought in for coalition balancing.

I wish at least one politician so far had the courage to stop that practice. To make sure someone’s party affiliation and nationality don’t matter, and to focus instead on their expertise and professionalism. This way, it turns out that a good director is only good for the party that appointed them, and not for the citizens.

A colleague of mine questioned why the media publishes the names of the new directors of clinics, hospitals, and other public health institutions. Why is that information relevant to the public interest? And, he might be right. In a normal country, do patients care to find out the name of the director of some clinic? Why would they even need to know it? Why would that information be important to ordinary citizens who regularly pay their taxes to the state? Is it perhaps so we’d know who to call if we need to pull some strings?

Well, of course! Here, that piece of information could potentially save your life. As tragic as it is, our health depends on the parties.

3 Hungary borrowed a billion dollars from China. It will give us 500 million euros.

It’s a small-scale trading situation. Keep the money moving.

4 SDSM accused Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and the three ministers who travelled with him to the NATO Summit in Washington of spending 20,000 euros on business class plane tickets alone. He provided the explanation that his knees hurt and that if he had flown in economy class, he wouldn’t be able to get through the next day. Just because his knees hurt doesn’t mean his head did. It’s not like he was there to run a marathon, but whatever.

It’s ridiculous to talk about this. He’s the Prime Minister. It’s normal to travel in business class, especially on overseas trips, and there’s nothing to debate here. Sometimes the state needs to spend some money. If we were a richer country, he would have travelled by air force plane, as other statesmen do.

However, when you flaunt populism, someday you yourself will suffer from it. I can only guess what VMRO-DPMNE would have come up with while they were in opposition if the previous government under SDSM and DUI had decided to buy a new government plane, because the one we have is from 2004. They wouldn’t have stopped complaining about the money going down the drain. They would have certainly blocked the runway like the climate activists across Germany. Well, Mickoski is no longer in opposition. Here’s his chance, as Prime Minister, to explain to his voters how many of their salaries equal the 20,000 euros on plane tickets.

5 We also found out that on shorter flights, due to his knee problems, Mickoski always sits in the rows near the emergency exit doors because there’s more space for him to stretch his legs. That means that before each take-off, the flight attendants ask him to carefully study the instructions for opening the door and ask him if he’s ready to help with an emergency evacuation in case of a forced landing.

During a forced landing, the crew gives the passengers the order: “Brace for impact.” After which, whether on land or in water, an immediate evacuation follows.

The good news is that the Prime Minister is ready to open the emergency door. The bad news is that since he’ll be the first to open it, he’ll be the first to escape. It’s a tradition within his party. Meanwhile, we, the passengers, here we are – braced for impact. We’re braced all the time. Ready to fall, but determined to survive.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski