1 These couple of days, hundreds, if not thousands of Macedonian citizens are marking the anniversary of the accession to NATO waiting to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in the halls of the Belgrade Fair. Alongside the citizens of Serbia, who are also marking an anniversary these couple of days – the anniversary of NATO’s bombing. It will be interesting to see whether Serbia will manage to vaccinate more Macedonians in a single weekend, than the healthcare workers Macedonia has vaccinated in a month and a half. And even that’s done with vaccines gifted by Serbia.
It sounds ironic? It sounds harsh? It sounds terrible? Yes. But that’s the case. At least for me personally, someone who deeply believes in the Western values, the solidarity and the principles promoted by the European Union, although this disappointment is excruciatingly painful.
Somehow, it feels like the European idea in Macedonia is dying. Why? Because it’s the umpteenth time the European Union has abandoned us, has betrayed us, and hasn’t kept its promises. Simply, it didn’t prove a partner you can rely on when you need it.
I hear a lot of people are blaming the Government for not procuring Russian or Chinese vaccines as early as September last year, when they offered them to us, but we refused them. Can you imagine what would happen if the Government of a country which is the newest member of NATO entered into arrangements with Russia and China, at a time when the EU accession negotiations promised in March are expected to start until the end of the year? It’s perfectly normal for a pro-European NATO country to refuse the offers from Moscow and Beijing, when you naturally expect to get things done with Brussels.
Do you remember the time when Venko went to Sofia, had a photo taken with Bojko Borisov and begged for 100 vaccines? He was sent by Zaev according to the European way, as it should be.
And what did we get for our loyalty to the EU? A veto from Bulgaria. The others blinked at the idea and they didn’t say a single word, except for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Croatia and Slovenia were also silent although we naturally expected support from them because at least they are the ones who know where things stand in Macedonia. In fact, which European values should we swear in, here in Skopje, when there in Brussels they can’t approve a single amendment which will condemn the brutal pestering we receive from Bulgaria.
And then we feel bad that Macedonian citizens take photos of themselves in front of the poster which reads “Hvala Srbija”[1] after having been vaccinated in Belgrade. Although we want to and yearn to take photos of ourselves next to “EU for you.”
We got vaccines from Serbia. And what did we get from the EU? We got Karakachanov.
It’s a matter of health. When someone’s life needs to be saved I couldn’t care less about the geostrategic position of the country and what will be written in one of those reports by the EU. So, I’ve decided to get vaccinated by the “dictator” Vucic, since the “democrat” Borisov cuts me dead.
2 While Bulgaria is giving away passports to Macedonians, and Serbia is giving away vaccines, we’re bragging about the number of free beds in hospitals. Like in the good old times when there was news on TV that in Ohrid and Dojran there was a huge demand for beds before the long weekend.
I’m afraid that even after this disappointment we won’t learn our lesson. That it won’t come to mind next time, if there’s a next time, to have the courage to play with all the cards on the table, and not be afraid that someone would scold us for geopolitical games. And not to hope that someone else will get things done for us, while we’re busy playing locally.
The Government is carrying out elections within the party, the Prime Minister is visiting markets, the Deputy Prime Minister is counting Albanians all over the world, the Minister of Exterior Affairs is lobbying for Kosovo to be recognized, the opposition of the Albanian parties is blocking the Assembly so citizenship could be granted with witnesses, VMRO-DPMNE is blocking the Assembly out of spite, the Minister of Health is marking the anniversary of the asphalting of the Clinical centre, and Prime Minister Zaev is comforting his fellow citizens that being the last to receive vaccines is in fact an advantage.
He should at least refrain from speaking, or admit that they’ve messed up, as the European leaders do. You can’t point out that advantage to the ones crying at the graveside. It’s heartless.
3 On top of that, the party bootlickers go on to sell patriotism and mark as unpatriotic the ones going to Vranje, Nish and Belgrade to save themselves. What are they supposed to do? To wait for the Government to sing their dirges? Because everyone there is a devout believer.
This political promotion of Serbia must be Aleksandar Vucic’s idea. But he didn’t do it by himself. Someone there must have worked hard to procure the vaccines. Some civil servants made agreements, negotiated, contacted, researched, organized, lobbied…
Who ought to make the contacts over here? Truth be told, the Minister of Exterior Affairs, Bujar Osmani, has a better thing do to – he’s lobbying for Kosovo and convincing the Albanians from the diaspora to self-enumerate. But, how many phone calls has President Stevo Pendarovski made? Which private contacts has he used so that the country could procure vaccines? He says that he called a manager. The head of the country called a company manager and got turned down.
Don’t we have two more presidents that get paid? Who have Branko Crvenkovski and Gjorgje Ivanov called? Is it possible they haven’t left their mark anywhere at all? Is it possible that during the ten years he served as the head of the country and travelled all over the world at state expense, Ivanov didn’t manage to make friends he’d feel like calling?
Is there anything more important for the country than the vaccines at the moment? Which diplomatic machinery will lobby around the world when we don’t have ambassadors in Washington, Beijing, Moscow, or in Belgrade, Sofia… Here, they transfer people to the Public Diplomacy department at the Ministry of Exterior Affairs as a punishment, while Serbia is giving a master class in public diplomacy with “Hvala Srbija.”
Also, how many civil servants, health experts and lawyers take their job seriously in the Government, in the Ministry of Health and all those agencies that we feed and whose main task was to secure vaccines for the salary they receive. Let the old staff be, they don’t get any work done anyway, our employees are new, we gave them a job so they could earn their daily bread. And – we saw just how good the old and the new are. Who brought the vaccines? The party lackeys from SDSM? Or the nationalists from DUI?
4 The fact that the census is being sold as the supreme act of patriotism shows the madness our country has descended into. A simple statistical operation has now become a measure of the love for the motherland.
I really can’t understand the ones calling for a boycott of the census. Are they afraid of the corona, or are they afraid of how many Albanians will be enumerated? What are they thinking when they call for a boycott? That the census won’t be valid, that it will be annulled, that the ones boycotting will be registered in a separate column? That they will enumerate Macedonians, Albanians, Turkish, Vlachs, Roma, Serbs… and – “I won’t open my door!?” Absolutely not. What will be valid is the number of those who were enumerated. Just like the case with the referendum for North Macedonia which was a prerequisite for the NATO membership. What’s done is done. They didn’t turn out to vote, they boycotted, made fun of the “northerners”… and what was valid were the votes of the ones who did turn out to vote.
It was the same thing in the last elections. By acting all smart – “no way I’ll vote,” they gifted DUI 15 MP seats. That’s why, dear Macedonians, if you don’t want to get enumerated, you’ll have no one to blame but yourselves.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
[1] “Thank you, Serbia” in Serbian. (Translator’s Note)
