In the evening, after having finished their everyday obligations, the leaders of the two major parties in Macedonia sat down to discuss the conditions under which the opposition would return to Parliament.
A political dialogue is essential for the functioning of a society. However, regardless of what the political dialogue is, the state institutions have to function according to the Constitution and the laws of the country, and when the laws are not in accordance with the constitutional norms, then they need to be changed and harmonized. All this needs to be harmonized in a way that will improve the lives of all citizens equally, that will provide social security to the vulnerable and access to justice. To put it briefly, it is the rule of law that is the basis for democracy, and not the political dialogue. Human rights and freedoms are respected with a non-selective application of the law and justice, and not with talks, persuasions and bargaining, which are a part of the political dialogue.
This position that has been repeated countless times, is not part of some textbook or academic debate, but results from the practice of democratic countries, so it is not an impossible situation. The fall of Gruevski’s regime assumed essential changes in the practice of power. They were convincing us that precisely that would happen – essential changes, democracy, rule of law…
Are talks between Zaev and Mickoski going in that direction?
No! First and foremost, we are talking about two different levels of credibility. Zoran Zaev is a legitimate leader of his party and also Prime Minister with a slim, but legitimate majority in Parliament. Mickoski is a disputed leader with doubtful credibility before part of the membership in his party. Mickoski’s party, however, is disreputable, following the 11 years of criminal and violent ruling with which they captured the state, thus the courts, a party whose officials are under investigation for serious crimes, corruption, violence and election thefts.
What kind of conditions can Mickoski be setting in this constellation? He simply has no credibility to be imposing conditions. In principle, this comment should already end with this point.
Mickoski conditions the return of VMRO-DPMNE to Parliament with the release of those who have been detained for the bloody attack on April 27. Why? Because the detained can reveal the entire scheme of the attack. The conditions in detention really are inhuman, but they are conditions in a system established and maintained by Gruevski’s party, that is, Mickoski’s party. They have to be improved in the most urgent procedure, but the attackers and organizers have to face the full force of justice.
Prime Minister Zaev says that he has “absolute understanding” for the opposition not returning to Parliament until they are completed. It is absolutely incomprehensible and unacceptable to have understanding for this position of Mickoski.
Furthermore, in the same statement, Prime Minister Zaev says: “We have no intention, absolutely, to pressure or influence the judiciary because the judiciary is independent and the law, absolutely, applies equally to all”.
It is absolutely incorrect to claim that the judiciary is independent. On the contrary, the judiciary is far from being reformed, it is still corrupted and susceptible to political influences from the previous government, that is, under the influence of Gruevski and Mickoski. It is a known fact and it can be seen,
both from the biographies of those who administer justice in the country and from their rulings in the past year. After all the obstructions to the work of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the cheap cosmetics in the cadre changes of the key positions in the judicial system and the rulings with which the guilty ones are walking freely with a smile and full pockets – we cannot say that “the judiciary is independent” and that “the law applies equally to all”. You remember, Gruevski was the one who used to say that he had no intention of interfering in the decisions of the court when he was imprisoning innocent people. My God, we are talking about the Swarovski judiciary of Mijalkov and Gruevski and about the famous party notebooks! This still lives on! Hmm, yes, life for everyone, right….
What a prime minister and a legitimate leader of a ruling party can say to to Mickoski is that he will do everything he can for the judiciary to become independent and not to allow those who endangered his life, the life of the MPs and media representatives and the entire country on that April 27, to get away with that.
The public, and much less the Government, must not fall to the cheap street tricks of the previous regime nomenclature. The tens of thousands of amendments, the obstructions to the EU and NATO integration (assisted by Putin and Erdogan), the destroying of the fragile negotiations for the resolving of the name dispute, the sowing of fear, hatred and divisions are not a trump in a political dialogue, but rather blackmails. And we know how those who blackmail should end. Not on the negotiating table, but at the plaintiff’s table. Together with the corrupted judges!
