CIVIL- Center for Freedom continues with the practice of being an open platform for views and analyses in regards to the socio-political processes in the electorate context.

CIVIL Media conducted a mini series of interviews with leading intellectuals, public figures in the social sphere and experts and analysts, from which a number of interesting and significant perspectives and analyses were received. They were all asked the same questions relating to the development of the negotiations for overcoming the political crisis, the obstructions and violations of the Przino Agreement, and the opportunities for creating the right conditions for free elections in April 2016.

These discussions are part of the activities of the Project “Free elections for free citizens”, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Analyst Dzevdet Hajredini predicts that Macedonia will enter a much more dramatic phase of political crisis if the commitments that have been made are not realized.

[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjngSkWZ0g0[/youtube]

CIVIL Media: How do you assess the political process in Macedonia in the context of the implementation of the Przino Agreement?

HAJREDINI: The negotiations have practically finished and now we have summed up the situation in Macedonia. We can see that very few nations in history and the modern world have been in such a situation, especially a European country. The elite that is in power in Macedonia is trying to demonstrate to part of the population, to the citizens in Macedonia, through its heavy propaganda paid by the government, that nothing in particular is happening. We witnessed at the end, when Nikola Gruevski was forced to except all the conditions that were being set by the international community, for him to say that our strategic goal is – and we have achieved it, the elections of April 24, 2015.  He absolutely does not even want to mention before the citizens of Macedonia everything that needs to be realized in order to have elections, and that there might not even be elections if these things are not realized, but that is his job.

The international community which is deeply incorporated in the Macedonian system, also has for the following several months, as it seems – a clear scenario of how in an institutional manner it is to realize all the commitments that have been signed. If this is not realized, Macedonia will enter another, much more dramatic phase of the political situation. Some time ago, I mentioned in a newspaper that Gruevski might not leave the government peacefully. Since we know his alternative is – to be in power, or to be sentenced to long imprisonment. And in this sense, one can understand that he is using everything at his disposal, in trying to postpone April 24. What he wants to delay, could result in not having elections and having to have mediation again from the same foreigners, but with new negotiations, new solutions… The international community is monitoring what he is trying to achieve with the obstruction of the functioning of the Special Public Prosecutor, the election of the State Election Commission, with the Judicial Council etc. However, in my opinion, I think this is very unlikely, he is only delaying the processes that is to lead Macedonia out of the crisis.

CIVIL Media: what are the most serious violations of the Przino Agreement?

HAJREDINI: The most serious violations are the obstructions and obstacles in the functioning of the Special Public Prosecutor. Now they are trying to prevent the passing of the law, the staffing of experts, investigative organs and investigative experts. Gruevski knows that Priebe’s Committee scanned the situation in Macedonia while he was here, and that it had Italian experts, well-known fighters against the mafia. He is aware that this was not by any chance. The situation is being compared to the functioning of the mafia in Italy, and he is conveying that experience here, how to discover the gangsters and have them brought to court.

CIVIL Media: Can and how is it possible to create conditions for free elections in April 2016?

HAJREDINI: To accomplish everything that has been signed in the Przino Agreement, to fulfill all the obligations foreseen with the legal regulations, with amendments to the Law on Government, the Law on Special Public Prosecutor and establishing of the State Election Commission. However, here we will have quite some problems, as we can see the names of the same people who have committed crime are being mentioned to enter the election commission, for who we have heard receive orders from party leaders for controversial cases in the last elections…That is nonsense, they cannot be allowed to enter the commission because of moral reasons. … And they continue further on, the ruling parties, to install the same people again, compromised, I repeat, because we all saw that they worked at the last elections only with orders of their party leaders. These are all the forms of that obstruction that, seems, will not succeed this time, because the crime and immorality that was discovered in Macedonia, is without precedent in any European country.

Marija Tegovska

Camera Dehran Muratov