Macedonians got a taste of Scholz's 'get lost' coffee

Writing for Kosovo Online: Zeljko Sain, Politika’s correspondent from Skopje

Although the official pre-election campaign for the presidential and parliamentary elections in North Macedonia, scheduled for April and May next year, has not yet officially begun, the government and the opposition have started a political derby, exchanging mutual accusations about who is to blame for this country continuing to wait in the Brussels corridor for the EU to open its doors to entry into this European community.

The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia considers the anti-EU and anti-NATO coalition between VMRO-DPMNE and the Left as the main culprit. As emphasized by the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia, despite a successful screening and strong EU support, due to the active blockade by opposition leaders Mickoski and Apasiev, the process of opening clusters in the Macedonian Assembly has not started. On the other hand, the opposition blames the ruling structure for the stagnation of Euro-integrative processes, attributing it to high-level criminal activities. 

According to this party, instead of a seat at the round table among ministers and EU leaders, the ruling structure gets a seat in the corridor outside the leadership hall. As explained at the VMRO-DPMNE headquarters, the EU does not allow further development of Euro-integrative processes – not because of the blockade of constitutional changes demanded by Bulgaria, but because there is a high level of corruption in the ruling structure, especially at the top of the government.

However, all parties present themselves optimistically to their voters. The current Prime Minister confidently declares that he will be the Prime Minister of North Macedonia again after the elections. Dimitar Kovacevski also sees the negative attitude of the EU towards North Macedonia in the actions of VMRO-DPMNE on the domestic political scene. He sees his party's victory through a European front coalition, which can rectify everything the opposition does to distance the country from European values. Kovacevski firmly rejects speculation about a possible coalition between the two largest Macedonian parties, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and VMRO-DPMNE, after the elections. This idea came from opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski, which was secretly negotiated in the previous months. However, as we learned from VMRO-DPMNE, this initiative was rejected by the government.

In general, the Macedonians, who are facing new conditions for EU accession and are still waiting in the queue to join this community, were angered by the EU's decision to allow the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine, despite the Hungarian Prime Minister's veto. Specifically, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with an unconventional approach during the leaders' discussion on Ukraine's accession, suggested to the Hungarian Prime Minister to leave the negotiation room and have a coffee, enabling other leaders to decide in favor of starting negotiations with Ukraine.

For the Ambassador of North Macedonia, Ivica Bocevski, this act is scandalous. He questioned why, in thirty years, no one had found a way to convince a Greek Prime Minister and lift the veto against Macedonia, which had to change its name to join Euro-Atlantic integrations. Bocevski posed this question after a panel discussion on Henry Kissinger and his diplomacy, led by former President of Macedonia, Djordje Ivanov.

As is known, Kissinger established a dialogue between the first President of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov, and Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis. Later, in Davos in 1992, he practically brought together the President of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, Stojan Andov, and the Prime Minister of Greece, Mitsotakis, to find a solution to the Greek-Macedonian dispute. Kissinger advised Mitsotakis to recognize the Republic of Macedonia and help it on its European path. Mitsotakis gave Andov a note that read "Republic of Macedonia – Skopje" as an acceptable solution for Greece. However, the final resolution of the Greek-Macedonian dispute is well known. The country changed its name and constitution to achieve its strategic goals, but even that was not enough to become a part of the EU.

"This is a question that is too complex and emotional for us, but again, the background is geopolitical and geostrategic. However, it is not a political or legal process; it is a commercial process. It's about money and a substantial amount of it. It is up to journalists to investigate this", Ivanov emphasized, highlighting that the name of Macedonia had nevertheless been preserved by all those living in this area for future generations. According to him, the name change of the country had its price: "Gligorov and one of his predecessors were offered sums ranging from one million to fifty million dollars, but in the end, the value of the name change reached 150 million euros". Ivanov did not provide details but directed journalists to investigate this matter.