1In the action plan for the relations with Bulgaria, or the annex, or the whatever-its-name-is document that we should respect, so the Government in Sofia removes the veto for the start of the accession negotiations with EU, they really have to put one more point – Karakachanov’s VMRO to pass the electoral threshold to enter their Assembly. And then add one more annex – Karakachanov to be the Deputy Prime Minister again.  Macedonian media are tasked with saving Karakachanov’s political career. And there’s nothing else for him to do but use anti-Macedonian statements in order to gain few more votes by the Bulgarian nationalists.

Like we’re not already worried sick about what we’re going to do with the census in April, now we have to dwell on the Bulgarian elections in April. Besides the breaking news being what Buchkovski is doing. Well, Buchkovski set out, Buchkovski passed the border, Buchkovski arrived in Sofia, Buchkovski came back… Like in those days when we used to send our singers to the Eurovision Song Contest. Buchkovski met with intellectuals in Sofia. Who knows, maybe he meets with intellectuals in Skopje as well. Perhaps, he could have gone to the good old archbishop Stefan for a blessing. Because, these are unbaptized days[1], right? We wouldn’t want demons to come up with more obstacles on our path to the EU.

And there you go, the working of the devil, the Bulgarian flag was burned at the carnival in Vevchani. In itself, burning anyone’s flag is incredibly stupid. And you can’t gain anything by doing it. But, there are fools everywhere. There, they showed their horns even in a country like America.

Here, the country reacted according to protocol. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the incident, the Public Prosecutor’s Office started an investigation into damaging the reputation of a foreign country. Even the president of the country, Stevo Pendarovski, condemned the burning and said that “it’s necessary to build trust, understanding and respect among neighbours.” Of course, that will reach Karakachanov’s ears, and he’s expected to spark off a new series of statements on “trust, understanding and respect.” Naturally, they’ll be reported and processed in detail by most of the Macedonian media.

Just because a couple of tipsy carnival-goers burned the flag of another country, it doesn’t mean that we’re all like that. As Zaev tends to say – if someone was a fascist in the Second World War, it doesn’t mean everyone was a fascist.

Be it as it may, by vetoing Bulgaria did the dirty work for the Eurosceptics. Both for the ones in the EU member states and the ones over here. Quite frankly, it will come in handy for the government as well. Who’d think about the fight against corruption, the efficient civil service, transparent governance, urban planning, clean air and clean water, when the priority question is how many times Buchkovski has crossed the Deve Bair border check-point. After all, everything is as it should be. If you read the statements by the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the fight against corruption, Ljupco Nikolovski, you’ll think you’re living in Sweden. At the same time, his colleague Artan Grubi is organizing a private party for his buddies from DUI in the official premises of the Ministry of Nothing.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Zaev announced that cars with Bulgarian registration plates will be registered at a 50% lower cost. There are donkeys who obey the law and pay the full price and there are wise guys who don’t obey the law and will pay at half price. The Ministry of Interior Affairs announced that whole concrete mixer trucks owned by people in the government hadn’t been registered for years, while honest ordinary citizens have their credit cards in the red just to register their cars.

What will be the fine for the law-abiding citizens to compensate for the reward for the insolent?

If you build without a permit, they’ll legalize the illegal construction. If you usurp the sidewalk in order to build an open sitting area for your café, they’ll legalize it with the patio heaters and everything. Lay the platform planks in the lake, they’ll legalize it when it becomes a restaurant. Don’t pay property tax, they’ll kindly ask you to pay in installments. Launder money in a Belize kind of place, bring it back as if an investment, they’ll legalize it…

The whole battle with the disobedient has been reduced to legalization of disobedience. When will this country give a discount to regular payers?

On the 14^th of January, The Social Democratic Youth of Macedonian announced that: “The students at the “Kuzman Josifovski – Pitu” dorm will receive heating and hot water, the Management has provided the required amount of extra light fuel. We continue with our transparent management of the institutions, the care for students and effectively dealing with unpredictable situations.”

Wow! What an accomplishment, what transparency, going as far as caring for the students and effectively dealing with unpredictable situations! Who could have predicted that students would need heating in January? That’s why the Management is here, which effectively, only 10 days after the students complained they had no heating, provided hot water for showering. You bet they will! In the lap of luxury, they will even have a shower.

The way these young social democrats bragged about it, you’d think they’ve sent a probe to Mars. And lo and behold – they’ve brought vaccines or kovid-19 in January. But no. This is an accomplishment which is simply unimaginable. The management of the institution did what they’re paid for. If they hadn’t, they’d find themselves in hot water.

Aleksandar Dashtevski was named new president of the State Election Commission, the same guy who was the former president of the Anti-Discrimination Commission, and whose signature that Nikola Gruevski had been discriminated helped him justify seeking asylum in Hungary.

Dashtevski was elected with 95 votes at the proposal of VMRO-DPMNE. There haven’t been so many “yes” votes in the Assembly for anything else, except when the members of parliament had an affirmative vote for the funding by the state budget for their parties.

The coordinator of the parliamentary group of SDSM, Jovan Mitreski, said that VMRO-DPMNE’s proposal for Dashtevski is “one more confirmation of all our claims that Gruevski’s staff has the final say, more precisely, even Mickoski is Gruevski’s executor.”

Then how come you voted for him? So, they may vote for you tomorrow? The fact that they have a certain opinion on Dashtevski in SDSM didn’t stop them voting for him. Because it works for them. It’s convenient for them as well for the parties to control the election process. They’ve reserved their tales about professionalization for their Facebook posts, with phrases copied from the non-governmental organizations and for round table discussions with ambassadors from the EU member countries.

Before even entering his new office Dashtevski appeared in an interview for Sitel, which has spent four years trying to resocialize him. Just so he can answer the question whether SEC was ready for a snap election. Personally he was. Wait a minute, who said anything about a snap election?

As for SDSM, it serves them right. They never seem to learn. Next time they get beaten up in the Assembly, no one will feel sorry for them. And there won’t be any journalists to report it. They’re not dumb to get beaten up, and then to have to prove at court that they had been working, just like now when the court doesn’t believe them that they were reporting on the 27^th of April 2017.

The trial against the member of parliament Antonijo Miloshoski for the “Overlord” case was postponed because the court couldn’t find the other defendant, Vecko Zdravevski, a former member of the Lustration Commission. Zdravevski is the husband of a prosecutor at the Skopje Public Prosecutor’s Office but the Court was looking for him at an address in Kichevo.

Where’s the defendant? The court can’t find a prosecutor’s husband. And the judge can’t order for his arrest to have him appear at court. Is he in Skopje, is he in Kichevo? And where’s his wife? Maybe the defendant’s hiding under her bed? Maybe the man got scared and hid under the prosecutor’s bed? And when he carried out the lustration process commissioned by Miloshoski, after which, the judge lost his job and died, he was a Man with a capital M and he didn’t hide.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski