1 “Any of these names sound familiar to you? Do you know these people who have passed the air traffic control test? These are nobody’s children.”

This is yet another demonstration exercise on what life in Macedonia looks like for those who are nobody’s people. Eight children were the best candidates on the Eurocontrol testing conducted by an independent licensed company from Denmark, they showed how good they are without any interventions with “balancing” or “Badinter majority”, but the directors of the Macedonian Air Navigation Service Provider (M-NAV) have decided not to send them for schooling in Denmark because their children and the children of the party officials haven’t passed the tests.

This comes as no surprise to anyone, as this is the case in all state and municipal institutions and companies. Except, now it’s about air traffic control, which makes this devastating realization all the more brutal. Simply put, all of us who don’t want to be someone’s children, who create, try to make a decent living for ourselves and our families, regularly pay taxes, contributions for pension and health insurance, parking, traffic fines, but we don’t want to be party members, we’re all outcasts. Nobody’s people. And we find ourselves in a situation where when we need the state we give money to, not only  is it nowhere to be found, but it even sometimes mistreats and ignores us just to satisfy the needs of its own children. And these 8 children who would make good air traffic controllers were even repressed by the state due to the fact that they were the best.

The parties have kidnapped our state. They have gained so much power that they’re not even aware that they’re working against the public interest. As we’ve seen, they are ready to even endanger the air traffic security just to house their own children. They’ve gained so much power and lost so much touch with anyone outside their party circle that the M-NAV directors have actually asked for a report from the Danish school for air traffic controllers, to provide them with an answer how come they dared to accept the eight best children when they hadn’t been on anyone’s list. They’ve asked a report on why their children were not accepted. What did they tell the Danes? No, no, you don’t understand, our children did really well in the exam. No, no, you don’t understand, do you know whose children they are? No, no, you don’t understand who’s behind this list. They’ve asked for a report from the Danes, much in the same way as they’re used to giving reports to their party leaders.

The Minister of Transport, Blagoj Bochvarski, had no opinion on whether air traffic security has been endangered. The Deputy Prime Minister for Good Governance, Slavica Grkovska, wrote a Facebook post, stating that laws must be obeyed. The audacity! And yet the Government says that M-NAV is an independent state company. When they’re supposed to accept their own children, they are independent. And when parties make deals with the Government on who to get appointed, then they are dependent.

They should stop acting all smart and trying to sell us on procedures. Instead of the Prime Minister instantly dismissing the three Management Board members in three days, we are yet to measure the corruption perception index. In Denmark.

One of the more experienced air traffic controllers has commented: “This is not Durmo Tours, or the Tetovo Hospital fire, so that the cases get covered up in court.”

By being members of Eurocontrol, this country has to practice the strictest European air traffic security standards. We are not yet in EU by land, but we do have EU in the sky. Should we lose the standard we have in the sky? They can’t stop talking about the EU, and yet the EU standards don’t seem to apply for their own children. The way they’ve put their minds to it, it seems as though if tomorrow we get expelled from Eurocontrol, the “nobody’s children” will be the ones to blame, simply for being capable.

2 The newly-elected prosecutor for prosecuting organized crime and corruption, Islam Abazi, says the ruling DUI is not behind him even though he is from the same village as Ali Ahmeti, although right after the elections, private photographs of him in the company of party officials emerged.

Whatever. Macedonia is a small country, Zajas is even smaller and everyone knows everyone. Maybe that’s why, immediately after the election of Islam Abazi, the President of the Council of Public Prosecutors, Antonio Jolevski, stated: “Let’s give him some space, let’s see how well he does”. As if the prosecutor is a young footballer in the third Macedonian division and we’re yet to see how well he performs in the first half. And Abazi is supposed to be no.1 in the First Division.

The fact that he was chosen by his fellow public prosecutors and has received the most votes must be a strong guarantee that he is the right man to fight the organized crime. As if we are from Denmark too, and we don’t know how the prosecutors who’ve elected this prosecutor were elected themselves. Those are the same prosecutors who are the reason citizens’ trust in the judiciary fell to 8%. Those are the same prosecutors whose incompetence required the creation of the Special Prosecutor’s Office. That Prosecutor’s Office has famously failed too. We also gave Katica Janeva some space to show her skills.

Only six years have passed since we listened to the “information bombs” in which the President of the Judicial Council and secretary of the Prime Minister were making lists of judges. What has changed during these six years? Those who were supposed to prosecute the high corruption have ended up in prison. And those who were prosecuted got to choose which prison they were going to serve their sentences in.

Minister for Justice Nikola Tupanchevski, in reference to this prison tourism, used to say that “they have identified some irregularities in the system”. Now, after the election of Abazi, Tupanchevski says that “they have identified flaws in the prosecutor’s election model”.

Can they identify at least some flaws in advance? Can at least some flaws be predicted? We are tired of giving chances.

3 Even Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski has identified some flaws within the system. During his visit to the “8th of September” Hospital, he stated that, from his own personal experience, he knows that we have high-quality doctors and high-quality equipment, but our system is no good.

The Prime Minister goes to a hospital and tells us what we already know. As if the system is some kind of monster fallen from Mars, stealing the money from the Health Fund, which we all contribute to. As if the Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and all those directors taking photos with them in the state hospitals don’t make the system themselves.

People suffering from cancer haven’t received the necessary treatment for three months now. The medications that patients with rare diseases receive are already several months late and no one knows if they’ll arrive at all. What comfort do those people and their loved ones have now that the Prime Minister has realised that our system is no good?

Ten days ago, at the construction site of the railway to Bulgaria, Kovachevski said that “our system is such and in more than one respect. For the past 30 years, we either haven’t had the knowledge or the dedication, or there’s been too much corruption, or all three things at once.”

Correct. Our system is such and in more than one respect. Because, the essence of our system is leadership meetings regarding the allocation of ministerial posts, appointment of directors according to party’s wishes, employment of “our children”, public purchases from “our people”…

Who should we call to change the system? The new US Ambassador?

And let Kovachevski continue buying himself mortadella toasts at party rallies. That’s how he discovers the true nature of the system. He shows understanding for “nobody’s children” as well.

4 The law prohibiting foundations and associations of citizens from putting names of fascists and their collaborators was unanimously voted in the Assembly. I don’t remember the last time VMRO-DPMNE suggested something, SDSM accepted it and they passed it unanimously.

However, Bujar Osmani and Nikola Tupanchevski have announced that they’ll submit the law on citizens’ associations to the Venice Commission for inspection.

You are going against your own Assembly, for Christ’s sake. Against the MPs who vote for you to become ministers.

Will this servile attitude of our Government towards Bulgaria ever be over?

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski