Macedonia agonistes

I am writing to send you a short brief on the ongoing political crisis in Macedonia, which last week reached a new high. This is an issue that has been very close to my heart, and on which I have been working intensely together with other colleagues in Macedonia, with the end goal of putting an end to a corrupt regime and putting the country back on its Euro-Atlantic track.

In February of last year, Zoran Zaev, the leader of the largest opposition party the Social-Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) revealed an unprecedented scandal where a small cabal around Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski illegally wire-tapped 20,000 citizens over a period of many years, starting at least in 2011. This number amounts to one percent of Macedonia’s population and includes opposition and government politicians, academics, civil society, foreign diplomats, journalists, church officials and others. The wire-taps revealed unprecedented government corruption, electoral fraud, political acts of revenge, a murder cover-up and much more that has taken place during 10-year reign of VMRO-DPMNE.

In July 2015, the ensuing fall-out culminated with an agreement between the leaders of the four main parties, under the auspices of the United States and the European Union, referred to as the Przhino agreement. The main pillar of the agreement was the establishment of a special prosecutor to investigate all cases resulting from the wire-tapping, as well as the formation of a technical government that would prepare the ground for free and fair elections. The prosecutor began its work in December, Prime Minister Gruevski resigned in January 2016, and control of the ministries for police and social policy was ceded to the opposition SDSM.

However, as the prosecution began opening investigations and requesting detentions for high ranking members of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, the agreement began falling apart. On top of stalling on all issues outlined in the agreement, the ruling party took a number of steps to delay reforms in the police and media, revisions of the voters’ list, as well as wider reaching reforms to detach the party from state institutions, which it had so completely captured.

The high drama escalated last week on April 12, when the President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov announced a wide-ranging pardon/abolition of 56 individuals charged (or yet to be charged) in the most serious cases of wiretapping, electoral fraud, murder cover up and corruption. Among this group were former premier Gruevski (pardoned on 5 counts), his cousin and former secret police director Sasho Mijalkov (6 pardons), as well as the former minister of police and transport Gordana Jankulovska (13 pardons) and Mile Janakievski (16 pardons). It is widely acknowledged that the president’s decision was pushed by Gruevski and his team, and the president was obliged to sign it under some duress. The matter is further complicated by the fact that the president had no legal basis for the pardons, pardoned people who were not yet charged (presumably illegally acquiring confidential information available only to the prosecution) and failed the follow the proper procedure for pardoning.

The president’s decision sparked citizen outrage in Skopje. Protesters demolished the president’s constituency office in the center of the city and sparked off mass daily protest. These citizen protests are now entering their second week and have expanded to eight different cities.  The United States and the EU have come out uncharacteristically strongly against the president’s decisions and urged him in no uncertain terms to revisit his decision. The state department and EU Commission indicated that criminal impunity endangers the country’s Euro-Atlantic future, makes elections on June 5 impossible and that results from an “undemocratic” elections would not be recognized by them.

Complicating matters further, the decision has sparked a confrontation between the US and the EU on one side and Russia on the other. At the onset of the crisis a year ago, the Russian embassy issued a statement on Macedonian internal politics for the first time in 24 years. Coupled with statements by minister Lavrov in the Duma about scenarios to destabilize and divide Macedonia and plunge the Balkans into chaos, the crisis has developed a wider geo-strategic component in the post-Ukraine/South Stream context.

Two days after the president’s pardons, the Russian embassy in Skopje issued a statement accusing the opposition of being used “as an external tool” to stir internal division and warned the US and EU against pushing for a “Ukrainian scenario in Macedonia.” This was immediately followed up by similar stories in media outlets such as Russia Today (link included below), and corresponded with some of the insinuations and accusations put forward by president Ivanov. Contacts between high ranking VMRO officials with Russian contacts in Skopje and abroad have been well documented this past year.

Subsequently, VMRO has pushed ahead for elections to be held on June 5 without meeting any of the agreed upon conditions. Parliament has been officially dissolved, though the legal basis for the dissolution remains unclear. The opposition consisting of over 11 parties, led by SDSM, have firmly stated that they will “neither participate, nor allow” for another criminal election to take place. The citizen protests have expanded across Macedonia. In response, VMRO is planning big counter-protests against the opposition for this week, setting the stage for yet another escalation; this time amongst the citizens themselves. In an attempt to revive the agreement, the EU supported, rather firmly, by the US is trying to gather the party leaders for renewed talks in Vienna planned for Friday, April 22.

A number of citizens, including myself, are working daily to get the message out to friends and allies, and persons interested in the Balkans and democracy in southeast Europe. We hope to garner support for free and democratic Macedonia and initiate wider political debate with and action by allies of Macedonia, especially in the US. If you feel so inclined, please circulate this note to whoever you think may be interested.