Political turnaround in North Macedonia - the path to a European future

Written for Kosovo Online by Zeljko Sajn

The presidential and parliamentary elections in North Macedonia brought about a change in the political scene of this country - the opposition was given the legitimacy to legitimize the new government by popular vote. Dissatisfaction with the results of the previous government - above all, on the path of European integration - gave the party VMRO-DPMNE the constitutional right to move from the opposition bench to the head of the state, take responsibility and lead the Macedonian people on the path of perspective, while preserving territorial integrity and sovereignty, primarily defending Macedonian identity and language.

All the parties in power since the independence of the Republic of Macedonia from SFR Yugoslavia agree that the European integration process is the way of the future for the Republic of North Macedonia. However, as time has shown, this path is full of challenges and obstacles, and the people have shown dissatisfaction with the achievements of the previous government in overcoming them and bringing the country closer to the European family, the new leadership will have the opportunity to show its skills in leading the country to its primary strategic goal. However, in addition to the inherited Bulgarian veto, the new government may also face a blockade by its Greek neighbor, if it does not respect the Prespa Agreement.

The test of the new government will be the ability to conduct foreign policy, primarily in view of the conditioning by the Bulgarian and Greek Macedonian neighbors, for whom the continuation of European integration is the key. However, there are no less pressures on the internal level of the country either. The Albanian political factor, which is growing stronger in this country, demands that a change in the method of electing the future president be introduced in the Constitution, and that it is no longer decided by the people in democratic elections, but by the deputies in the Assembly. The leader of the VMRO-DPMNE party, Hristijan Mickoski, will have to come up with a strategy for the successful assembly of the new executive power, restraining crime and corruption, and at the same time find a political solution with the neighbors and positively solve the European integration processes.

During the campaign, VMRO-DPMNE accused the ruling structure, where the coalition partners were SDSM and DUI, for the internal problems of the state. On the foreign policy front, the largest opposition party pointed out that the wrong policy was pursued with both Bulgaria and Greece and that the neighbors were too allowed to directly interfere in internal politics, hence the new request for another change to the Constitution. Let us remind you that the future government is not against changing the Constitution, but it rejected the style and political pressure even during its opposition activities, when it did not allow the change of the highest state act even under the threat of the European Union that it would permanently isolate North Macedonia from the international community if it did not follow the French way. - to the German proposal for the settlement of the dispute with Bulgaria.

The people and the opposition agreed on one thing - that the European Union showed all its hypocrisy on Macedonia's path to the European family. Confirmation for such a position is the Prespa Agreement with Greece itself, which was a condition for the implementation of the Euro-Atlantic process. By changing the name and the Constitution of the country, North Macedonia somehow managed to gain membership in NATO, but not in the European Union. The future government, with VMRO-DPMNE at the head, as it announced from the opposition bench, will not change the Constitution or make new concessions until the European Union guarantees that it will no longer play politically with their country, especially with the identity of the Macedonian people. The opposition, which occupies the ruling chair in the executive and legislative branches, with the new president Gordana Siljanovska Davkova at the helm, faces the task of diplomatically avoiding all external and internal manipulations with the new government structure.

In the previous government, the Albanian political entity had almost half of the ministers in the executive branch, where the Prime Minister was the SDSM leader Dimitar Kovacevski. DUI would like to participate in the government again, because it currently has 19 deputies, which ranks it in first place among Albanian political parties. In such relations, the strength of the SDSM becomes the third party on the political ranking list, which writes a new history on the parliamentary stage, where the parties are gradually broken down and where the Albanian factor is slowly climbing to an even higher level. With their votes, the people focused all responsibility on the party VMRO-DPMNE, which has the role of leader in preserving the state, its reputation, integrity, but also in creating the policy of its prosperity. It is uncertain how this party will assemble the executive power and the majority parliamentary voting machinery in the Assembly alongside the Macedonian parties Left and the Association Znam, and it is also expected that a certain number of MPs from the SDSM party will change the opposition bench for a place in the ruling structure. It is about 17 deputies, so VMRO-DPMNE, with its 58 deputies, could reach a two-thirds majority in the parliament.

Hristijan Mickoski has begun extensive negotiations with the Albanian parliamentary entity Vlen, which often consults with Albin Kurti. Let us remind you that this is the same opposition that declared Kurti the president of all Albanians. A few days ago, the leaders of the Vlen coalition visited Kurti in Pristina, and their presidential candidate for North Macedonia, Taravari, said in a statement for RTK in Pristina that this coalition expects to get six ministerial positions, but also to keep the presidential position in the Assembly. In all their political activities, both Albanian blocs have the same rhetoric: that Albanians should have their place at the head of state functions, where quality and party profile are not emphasized, but the Albanian national structure is always mentioned.

However, Taravari, unlike his statement in Pristina for the Macedonian TV Telma, did not specify the number of ministers in the government, but he expressed the hope that the Albanians will still retain the position of chief speaker of the Sobranja. However, Hristijan Mickoski, who is expected to receive the prime minister's mandate from the newly appointed president Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, will have the final say, after the formation of the Assembly and her return from Rome, where she is on her first official visit abroad.