1 The World Economic Forum in Davos this year was dominated by talk of a profound shift in the world order. The world is changing. As far as Macedonia is concerned, Davos brought nothing new. For our politicians, it was business as usual. They went to Switzerland to meet with our neighbours. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski announced that he had “started the day with a bilateral meeting with Borjana Krišto, Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Considering the fact we don’t have a direct flight to Sarajevo, Davos appears to be the most convenient place for the Macedonian prime minister to meet the prime minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Apart from his colleague from Sarajevo, he didn’t manage to meet with any other prime minister or head of state. He claimed to have had “a successful day with many bilateral meetings”. I suppose they were so many meetings that he was unable to elaborate on any in particular. He also took part in a panel where he presented “the key projects that we will announce in the coming period, namely ‘Boshkov Most’, ‘Chebren’, and ‘Galishte’”.
Ah, the projects of our and your youth. As it seems, they’ll also be part of our grandchildren’s youth, since the Prime Minister has yet to announce them. I first heard about these projects when I started reading newspapers back in the 1970s. They were already relevant long before that.
Every morning, Prime Minister Mickoski addressed us with the message: “Good day, Macedonia, from Davos.” He would then sign off with: “Follow us as we continue our stay here in Davos, and see you tomorrow in Skopje.”
Until the next call, back to the studio for some music. The hit “Forever Young”, from 1984. I, too, feel forever young with “Boshkov Most”.
2 Prime Minister Mickoski also announced that, in Davos, he had continued his day “at a panel where we spoke with world leaders and representatives of multinational companies about the challenges facing humanity in the years to come”.
We have yet to see what those challenges on the path to the EU will look like if Rumen Radev forms a party and wins the elections in Bulgaria. We can only expect good things from him. But, hey, we’ve been waiting to join the EU for thirty years without even starting the negotiations, so we can surely afford to wait for the Greenland situation to be resolved as well.
The EU has written us off. The USA has forgotten about us. Trump will leave us without an ambassador in Skopje, but what matters is that we continue to believe we’re still within the perimeter. Let’s talk about nice things.
In a world turned upside down, we’re no longer a challenge to ourselves, let alone to humanity.
3 Minister of Justice Igor Filkov says that the case of an appeal court judge, Gjoko Ristov, in whose possession 350,000 euros were found hidden in a wall, is not just a scandal but a “symbol of deep systemic weakness”.
What? No way? The minister discovered what!? A systemic weakness. As if that weakness were anything new. We’ve been talking about weaknesses in the judiciary for decades. And it’s not as though Igor Filkov is a newly appointed minister either. What precisely has he done in the past year and a half as Minister of Justice to eliminate weaknesses in the system? He can complain all he wants about weaknesses in the system, but his ministry is the key pillar in that system.
4 Ticket prices for performances at several state institutions such as the Philharmonic, the National Opera and Ballet, and the Drama Theatre have doubled, so if some cultural events until recently cost 300 to 500 denars per ticket now come with a price tag of up to 1,300 denars.
The Minister of Culture says that it’s merely a matter of “moderate and carefully measured price adjustments”, a statement made while Minister Zoran Ljutkov was opening the Macedonian stand at the Tourism Fair in Madrid.
Culture isn’t a luxury, but a public good paid for with our money so it’s available to everyone. But when a public institution charges 20 euros for a ticket to a performance, that’s not a “cultural value”, but elitism imposed with public funds. They’re implying culture isn’t meant for everyone. If that’s the case, why is culture funded with money taken from everyone’s salary?
We don’t pay only for creativity, but our taxes are also used to fund the buildings of cultural institutions, the salaries of employees, as well as water, electricity, heating, cooling… And now, on top of that, the same citizens who’ve already paid once are expected to pay again, this time through an expensive ticket to attend a performance.
Culture is a hallmark of national identity. This government likes to blow its own trumpet when it comes to defending Macedonian national identity. Instead of winning over a new audience and strengthening Macedonian cultural production with full theatres, the boards of directors of public institutions have chosen the easiest way to make money and cover up their managerial incompetence: raise prices, hit people in the pocket.
Apparently, the plan is to strengthen our identity through press conferences held by the Prime Minister and ministers, while the President delivers university lectures on the Copenhagen Criteria and cultural diplomacy. Whereas the money is spent on stands at fairs.
Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski
