1 It’s sad that no one in this country seems willing to change the practice of everything being party-driven. Even sadder is the fact that no one seems to mind. Or perhaps we do mind, but we’re already tired, so when someone from the top ranks of the ruling party is appointed governor of the central bank, we accept it as a normal situation. It’s all in vain.
President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova has proposed Professor Trajko Slaveski as the new governor of the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia. Slaveski is a member of the Executive Committee of VMRO-DPMNE and the President of the Skopje City Council, elected from the VMRO-DPMNE list. He was Minister of Finance in Nikola Gruevski’s government from 2006 to 2009. And he was Minister of Development in Ljupcho Georgievski’s government from 1999 to 2000.
They say that Petar Goshev, who served as Governor of the National Bank from 2004 to 2011, was also a party loyalist. But, must that practice really continue, especially given that from 2018 until now, Anita Angelovska-Bezhoska has led the National Bank, appointed by consensus, with 81 votes in favour and not a single against or abstention. Why is the ruling coalition so eager to break with that beautiful tradition?
With all the polarisation and partisanship, the least we could’ve done is elect the governor of the central bank by consensus.
Even if we trust Slaveski the economist, it’s perfectly reasonable to be wary of Slaveski the party operative. We’re not talking about a party sympathiser. We’re talking about a high-ranking official. Will he suddenly forget his past in VMRO-DPMNE the moment he resigns from the Executive Committee? Will he delete all party contacts from his phone?
And are we supposed to forget his past too?
2 Why did President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, who, in her inaugural address, said that “we have never needed greater unity” and that she would be “president of both the left and the right”, propose the right-wing Trajko Slaveski as governor of the National Bank?
Why? Well, her office put it rather nicely in the statement that “the president was guided by expertise and competence, dignity and integrity, as well as the real possibility of appointing the candidate.”
Of the three criteria, it was the last one that prevailed over expertise and dignity in making the decision – the real possibility of appointing the candidate. In other words, the one with the most votes in Parliament.
The president is a political realist. I wouldn’t say an opportunist, because that sounds a bit harsh, and she gets angry when journalists criticise her.
Still, the appointment of the governor, a key position nominated by the head of state, is a good moment to recall her inaugural speech on May 12 last year, when she said that the trust of 560,000 voters was the result of the harmony between the mathematics of VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski and her emotions.
It’s the same scenario. When selecting a candidate for governor of the National Bank, the president once again went with the mathematics.
In the meantime, all we can do is hope that Slaveski will manage the National Bank better than he’s managed the Skopje City Council. Out of sheer spite, the weeds have taken over the city. He won’t devalue the denar out of spite too, will he?
3 The British and Macedonian governments have signed a cooperation agreement that will make 5 billion pounds (around 6 billion euros) available to Macedonia for capital projects across several strategic sectors.
We’ll applaud the government for this move once we’re sure they won’t steal the money. If nothing else, they’ll have to invest in serious projects, like the reconstruction of the railway from Tabanovce to Gevgelija and a few hospitals, and won’t be able to blow the money on another “Skopje 2014.”
Why is Britain giving Macedonia a loan?
Because Britain is currently the second-largest investor, and more than half of the UK’s trade with the Western Balkans is with Macedonia. So, the economic logic is clear – we need funds for development, and the British government is supporting British companies in expanding their business abroad. As a result, at least 20 percent of the participating companies will need to be British, which is completely OK – they’ll bring British working standards. And those British companies will need to hire local workers.
Now, the only question that remains is: what interest rate will we have to repay on that loan? Prime Minister Mickoski isn’t saying because he has a real flair for drama. He follows the principle of “Chekhov’s gun” – if you pull out a gun in the first act, it must go off by the third.
Mickoski never misses a chance to build suspense – he can’t reveal all the details of the story at once, he must pull out a new detail every day to keep the plot moving. And everything must be of historic significance.
Considering that, in the first act, Mickoski spoke of a “strategic partnership with a powerful European county,” and in the second, he announced “good news for Macedonia,” by the third act he’ll have to reveal the interest rate on the loan.
4 The drama with the EU has dragged on far too long.
The Prime Minister keeps repeating our narrative that we’re asking for fair treatment from the EU, while EU representatives keep repeating theirs, that we must include Bulgarians in our Constitution in order to start the accession talks.
During her visit to Skopje, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, said there’s still room to overcome the obstacles and unblock the European integration process, but that they’re still committed to Plan A.
Either we change the Constitution or we wait for the EU to change. Who benefits more from the waiting will be revealed in the last act. But the play is getting so boring that I suspect we’ll leave the theatre during the interval.
And Macedonia will remain like a small wound. It will fester, and it will start to heal, over and over again, only to reopen again. But you don’t die from that.
5 Prime Minister Mickoski, Minister of Local Self-Government Zlatko Perinski, the mayors of the Municipalities of Zhelino and Tetovo, along with several MPs from the Tetovo Region, officially launched a rural road between Palatica and Tetovo. The road is one and a half kilometres long, five metres wide, and cost 430,000 euros.
Was there even enough room to park so many official cars? They probably blocked half the road.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
