1 In reality, it’s easy to see which country holds its own, and which one is slavish. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, without even waiting for an investigation why the secretary of the Bulgarian club “Tsar Boris III” was beaten in front of a bar in Ohrid, summoned the Macedonian ambassador, Agneza Rusi, to hand her a letter of protest “for the hate crimes against Bulgarians”. Minister Bujar Osmani didn’t want to be outshined, so he too decided not to wait for an investigation into the bar fight and stated that “in this country it is unacceptable for someone to be attacked because of their views, ideas, opinions, feelings or identity”.
Almost at the same time while Bujar was asking institutions to “take all measures to hold accountable the persons who committed a physical attack based on the ethnic, cultural or any other identity of our citizen”, the reports of the Ministry of Internal Affairs showed that on 17 December the beaten man from Ohrid was caught with cocaine and he was charged with drug trafficking.
The guy from Ohrid, who was beaten in front of a bar, is being defended by two countries. Both by the Bulgarian Technical Minister for Foreign Affairs Nikolay Milkov and the Macedonian Minister Bujar Osmani. Whereas Bulgarian President Rumen Radev is sending a special plane to transport him to Sofia for treatment. Drug trafficking identity not only guaranteed but cemented as well.
This is getting dangerous. Imagine if one of the 100,000 Macedonians who have a Bulgarian passport gets hurt in a bar fight or, God forbid, gets detained by the police on suspicion of a crime. He immediately becomes a victim of a “crime against Bulgarians”. Until now, Macedonians took Bulgarian passports so they’d be able to study and work in the EU countries, using the benefits of European citizens. From now on, we should know that a Bulgarian passport also grants legal immunity.
If the Commander-in-Chief of Bulgaria finds it that easy to send a plane to evacuate someone who got injured in a bar fight, who knows, he might send tanks as well.
2 Although just a week ago the MEP Angel Dzhambazki and the leader of the parliamentary party “Revival” Kostadin Kostadinov yelled under Bujar Osmani’s window that “Macedonia is Bulgarian”, the minister asked Bulgaria to distance itself from the offensive statements. In our Ministry of Internal Affairs there was no drama with summoning the Bulgarian ambassador, no letters of protest accusing them of hate speech. Both Osmani and Prime Minster Dimitar Kovachevski said there was no point reacting to marginal politicians. As if Dzhambazki who is a member of the European Parliament and Kostadinov, who has 27 MPs in the fourth biggest parliamentary group, are of marginal importance, but the 21-year-old cocaine dealer, who happens to be the secretary of a Bulgarian private club, is of central importance for our accession talks with the EU.
In the reaction of the Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs they even praised Bulgaria for making efforts “to maintain constructive cooperation and a positive spirit in the bilateral relations between the two countries”. A positive spirit, second to none… They don’t recognise your language, they even set the seal by issuing a unilateral statement in the negotiating framework for the EU, they abuse the power of the EU to assimilate a smaller neighbour, and Bujar Osmani is planning to fix them with a positive spirit.
Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said he doesn’t comment on marginal politicians, apparently as Prime Minister he only communicates with the Government in Sofia. Although people in Bulgaria have been unable to form a government for two years and Bulgarians themselves don’t know who their prime minister is.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now poking fun at us that “the Republic of North Macedonia cannot guarantee the safety of its own citizens”. That’s what you get. But it’s true. The Macedonian state cannot protect its own citizens from the attacks of Bulgarian politicians who come here in Skopje to insult and provoke them. All of that while our police is guarding them.
Why are they so afraid of banishing them and declaring them persona non grata? So what if Dzhambazki is an MPE. Let him go to Brussels, Berlin, The Hague, Copenhagen and tell them there that a European value is when a bigger country is raping a smaller one, while everyone else is pretending not to see that, since the bully is part of their family. And let Kostadinov go to Sofia and form a Government. He’s in the Bulgarian Parliament. You can’t say he’s a marginal politician.
Just continue being submissive to Bulgaria. That’s the best way to protect state interests.
3 However, maybe it’s better for us to be quiet, be nice until the Constitution is changed. Deputy Prime Minister Bojan Marichic announced the debate on the constitutional amendments would intensify, and we know the need for constitutional amendments is best justified with being subservient. I’m not really convinced that Macedonians being humiliated at home, by their own country, creates a favourable climate for us to understand that constitutional amendments are necessary and are for our own good.
They’ll now put Arben Taravari’s “Alliance” in the Government. Prime Minister Kovachevski said the door was open “for all parties who are in favour or a European Macedonia”. The leader of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, said that in order to push through the constitutional amendments an Alliance for Europe will be formed. Well, they can call the new coalition whatever they want, but in the end it all comes down to being given directorial positions, access to public money and personal gain. Where will they find more directorial positions, will we have to come up with new public enterprises?
Otherwise, if Taravari does indeed believe that changing our Constitution will take us to the EU, why must his party join the Government? It’s simple, let the MPs of Alliance vote in the Assembly. Or, perhaps, faith in the EU is stronger when there are ministerial and directorial positions as well as commissions from tenders and public procurements?
As for Ali Ahmeti and his new brainchild Alliance for Europe, I’d like to know what’s so European in the way DUI governs our country.
4 The winter break for students in primary and secondary schools is ending. How come swimming pools don’t work during the winter break? Are children not allowed to go swimming when they’re free?
Third graders can’t swim during the day, so while they’re on their winter break they can go out to dinner at a restaurant and stay late. That’s also an absurdity when it comes to the winter break. The working hours of restaurants and bars is extended to one o’clock after midnight only during the winter break. Why wouldn’t bars close later and extend the working hours of bars during the school year, when children are supposed to study? Minors shouldn’t go to bars anyway; it won’t make a difference to them.
I’ve been wondering about this thing with the swimming pools and the bars for years. And for years we’ve been asking why that’s the case, since it doesn’t seem very logical. However, so far no one has given a logical answer.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
