This winter I was on a trip to Sarajevo, when Austrian Airline flight from Skopje to Belgrade was four hours late, and later from Belgrade to Sarajevo was cancelled, so I had to catch a taxi. The taxi driver was a bit younger than me, polite and professional. In an almost five-hour drive through bad roads and a snowstorm, he shared his views on the Balkan circumstances. Very well informed, he revealed an image of a modern, pro-European man, who was not hiding his disappointment from the Serbian politics and politicians overall. My fellow passenger was old enough to be rightly cynical, and young enough to believe that it can be better, with more work and less corruption, nationalism and Russian influence. Truly refreshing after several hours of scrolling through Serbian printed and internet media at the Belgrade airport.
However, no matter how much he tried being positive, when we crossed the border and entered Bosnia and Herzegovina, after several minutes of silence that somehow was imposed by itself, he said: “Well here even God has said good night”. He was referring to the difficult situation in the country – the former symbol of the Yugoslavian brotherhood and unity, and now one of the darkest memories of Europe, following the bloody war in the 90’s, when 100.000 women, children and men lost their lives, 2.2 million people were displaced and 12-20 thousand women were raped.
It is nothing new that Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a difficult economic, political and security situation. Corrupted politicians, bad policies of the international community and the war that is still ringing in the consciousness and subconscious of the people, are all competing in the air, in the steps of the people through the streets. The Daytona Peace Agreement in 1996 was supposed to stop the war and give a chance to peace, recovery and progress in this country, in which a war, as Europe had not seen since World War II, was raging for four years.
The Western Balkans begin precisely with Bosnia and Herzegovina. They end with Macedonia, a story that is not as nearly as dark as the Bosnian one, but which never managed to escape far enough from it.
And now, when we have seen the light of day, after the fall of the anti-democratic criminal regime, when the international position of Macedonia has returned to the relatively good year of 2005, after which we were able to note only falls and crisis until recently, again there are dark clouds overhanging. Following the positive energy, euphoria and encouragement that were brought by two modern politicians like Zaev and Tsipras, following Stoltenberg’s January speech and Mogherini’s speech in March in the Parliament of Macedonia, days of caution and confrontation with possible failures are coming.
Whichever way we turn the story, it all depends on the resolution of the dispute with Greece. Despite the initial enthusiasm with which the Greek leaders entered into a constructive, but also courageous dialogue with our dream team, the process is hanging by a thread. The nationalists, neo-Nazis and the church in Greece, wholeheartedly helped by Moscow, have no intention of letting it go. In Macedonia – a similar situation.
Those who know the Balkan state of affairs, know that Macedonia’s success and failure can drag the entire region towards better or towards worse. That is why, the well-intended and wise have a knot in the pit of their stomach when they see the kind of risk the entire process is in.
And we have to admit once, openly and sincerely. To also confront ourselves. In addition to all the zest and dedication with which we are defending the positions for protecting our constitutional name, we have to admit that we have another great enemy in these efforts. That being the policy of isolation, nationalism, rude theft and fabrication of history, social engineering, Skopje 2014 (…), which were weakening our positions every day in the past decade.
No matter how much we wanted to defend our country, we the “traitors”, in our conversations, correspondence, actions and countless articles, we always faced the ugly colossus of the regime of Gruevski, who was simply working against all the strategic interests of Macedonia. We have to face the fact that this society allowed a criminal clique to destroy all our bridges to success.
It is difficult now to make projections, but we certainly had much more chances for a better outcome of our dispute with Greece before the start of Skopje 2014, than after it. And now the country is facing solutions that can inflict pain. Now, whatever you do, in whichever one of the countries, Macedonia or Greece, it is those who are guilty for the decade-long damage that both of the societies are suffering from the senseless dispute, who will be equally poisonous. Whatever we decide, whatever we do and write, those who are guided by the Russian Ruble and the shallow knowledge of the history and the present, will be the loud “defenders” of the national interests, while those who want progress and good-neighborliness will be the “traitors”.
Both Macedonia and the region, those dark Western Balkans, have to receive a chance. Structural violence and corruption, espionage and propaganda have used up and are still drawing too much energy and are causing great harm. We have made many mistakes. We were late. We were hesitant. However, Brussels’s slowness and wrong assessments had a great share in all of this. We, ourselves, have to bring and implement the solutions and bold decisions. We have to have confidence in the good solutions and leave the destructive nationalism behind us.
But in the end, we also have to send out a loud message to the world. Our failure will not be only ours. Macedonia’s failure for the Euro-Atlantic integration will also be a failure of EU and NATO. Macedonia’s failure will also be a failure of Greece. Nonetheless, it will be the worst for us. And then it will be: Good night Macedonia, for us as well…
