1 Is Prime Minister Zoran Zaev still clinging to the idea that he’ll convince Bulgarian politicians to lift the veto on the start of our accession talks with the EU by hugging it out? Imagine, we’ve witnessed the day when he himself stated that the conditions that Bulgarian President Rumen Radev spoke of at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Slovenia are offensive to Macedonians. It was about time he realized that, after previously sugar-coating the whole situation with sweet-sounding words about “our brothers,” “our friends” and our neighbours, after coming up with theses about the similarity of the language, about what his roots were, he was looking for a common history, he was going to erase the term “Bulgarian fascists” from the monuments to the victims of the Bulgarian fascist occupier… After taking the role of linguist, historian and caretaker of cemeteries and plaques, it finally occurred to him that what Bulgarians are seeking is offensive.

That’s the only benefit from the summit in Brdo near Kranj in Slovenia, at which the European Union reached the same conclusions as at the Thessaloniki Summit in Porto Carras 18 years ago. That Zaev, after all the humiliation he himself endured from the Bulgarian blockade in the past year and a half and after all the backlash he caused at home, he finally felt offended. He’d been turning a blind eye for two years and all of a sudden – Hey, wait a minute, this guy is offending me. With a friend like Bulgaria, who needs enemies.

The only thing I don’t understand is his wishful thinking that the process will be unblocked after the presidential and parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on 14 November. No matter who’s elected president, no matter who forms the government – it will be the same. The process of massively issuing Bulgarian passports to Macedonians, whom Radev calls discriminated Bulgarians in Macedonia, wasn’t just about taking bribes for Karakachanov’s fellow party members. The Bulgarian state doesn’t simply give away their passports to Macedonian citizens looking for a job in the EU. It’s a Bulgarian state policy that has yet to bring harm to Macedonia. And Bulgarian President Radev made that clear to his European partners in Slovenia.

In fact, with the request for bulgariazation of Macedonia, Radev made it clear that Bulgaria is Macedonia’s greatest enemy. They haven’t shown a shred of the friendship they’ve been preaching about in the last two years. And we’ve even signed a Friendship Treaty. They violated the treaty and declared themselves enemies. They’ve created another generation that will suffer from hatred. And the quicker the highest-ranking government officials realize the fact that we’re dealing with an enemy, the sooner we’ll consolidate the position that flattery wasn’t a good strategy. Not good abroad, and horrible at home. Because, we’re not talking about Zaev’s political career. We’re talking about the survival of the state.

2 What would you call it, if not enmity, making up stupid arguments to harass someone and to make their life miserable, just because you’re stronger and you’re an EU member? And you do that so bluntly and so brazenly. In the middle of Europe, in the third decade of the 21st century, who would’ve thought that someone would say to you – You don’t exist and you won’t exist while I’m an EU member state? And the European Union in the 21st century has the same answer as in the 19th century – They are in our empire, you are not.

And what can we conclude after the pointless EU Summit in Slovenia? That Bulgaria is our enemy and that the European Union couldn’t care less about it. It’s not like the EU member states are indifferent that six Balkan countries are like a black hole in the middle of Europe, with a daily risk of instability at their borders. However, it doesn’t bother them at the moment. It seems that it will have to hurt us a lot more, here in the region, so it would start bothering them as well. God forbid that part of Balkan history be repeated.

Bulgarians are caught up with our past because they can’t handle their own. And until this European Bulgaria doesn’t realize their dream of the Bulgaria envisioned by the 1878 Treaty of San Stefano, our dream of joining the EU will never come true. However, life is reality. One doesn’t live on dreams. A solution has to be found.

3 Next Monday is 11 October. We’ll mark the 80 years anniversary of the beginning of the anti-fascist struggle. We’ll debate whether to erase the term “Bulgarian fascist occupier” from the monument to the victims of fascism. So we’d join the EU.

4 The first results of the investigation into the fire in the Tetovo modular hospital showed that the cause of the tragedy, in which 14 people died, was a short circuit spark caused by a defibrillator cable plugged into an extension cord. That’s why Prime Minister Zaev didn’t accept the resignations of Minister of Health Venko Filipche and Ilir Hasani. Since, it’s the cable’s fault.

As if the defibrillator had plugged itself into the extension cord. As if there are no rules on how to use a defibrillator, especially if the patient is on oxygen therapy. As if everybody doesn’t know that using an extension cord is a risk even for smaller devices.

But, why are we even talking about rules and protocols, when in the hospital, the patients in the Covid centre were cared for by their relatives. In the middle of the pandemic, anyone could enter the
Infectious Diseases Ward, yet here we are academically discussing the safety of the extension cord.
In fact, why are we even talking about rules and protocols, when the director of the hospital Florin Besimi illegally served as acting director for 11 years. No one has explained how someone can be an acting director for 11 years, even if he was from DUI, even if he was the brother of the Minister of Finance.

Filipche and Hasani aren’t to blame for the fire, because they didn’t bring the extension cord to the Tetovo hospital. However, they cannot escape taking responsibility for how they’ve managed the public health policies, which led to this tragedy. That’s why Zaev should have accepted their resignations.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski