By Xhabir Deralla
Several recent developments and statements reveal the main features of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s political conduct and the direction in which his government is taking North Macedonia. His policy toward the European Union is not a mistake, incompetence, or diplomatic misunderstanding. It is a plan. And that plan does not lead the country toward the EU, but toward controlled isolation.
The blockade of North Macedonia’s European path should no longer be read as coincidence or tactical maneuvering. It should be understood as a systematic policy. Declarative pro-European rhetoric serves as a façade, while the government’s essential political signals point in the opposite direction.
It is important to change the angle. Mickoski is not a politician who “does not know” how to lead the country toward the EU. He is a politician who knows very well how to keep it outside the Union.
At this point, I do not wish to comment on the political, diplomatic, intellectual, or professional capacities of the government or the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party. This is about a strategy that can be carried out by a relatively competent structure — or even by an incompetent one. Why? Because it is much easier to deliberately avoid doing something than to deliberately do something. Given the current condition of Europe and the world, such a strategy is even easier to implement.
The excuse – Bulgaria – is no longer valid. However unfair and malicious the policy of official Sofia may be, North Macedonia has for almost four years been in a phase in which the key issue is no longer Sofia, but Brussels.
This is a moment when the country should be demonstrating European maturity, respect for international agreements, and the ability to close disputes. Instead, the prime minister keeps opening new fronts, not only with Sofia, but also with Athens.
In that sense, even a small commemoration was turned into a geopolitical performance: at home, it fed the nationalist narrative; toward the neighborhood, it sent provocative messages; and the EU process remained hostage to controlled tensions.
This may be the most accurate formula for the current political matrix of the government:
At home – nationalist mobilization; abroad – provocation; toward the EU – controlled blockade.
Another key point is the need to clarify the issue of Bulgarian-Macedonian relations. This is a matter separate from the European process. Mickoski has been told countless times that the issue is no longer only Sofia, but Brussels. It is not a bilateral dispute anymore, but a European procedure that North Macedonia has already accepted.
The inclusion of Bulgarians, along with other communities, in the Constitution is not a gift to Bulgaria, not a humiliation, and not capitulation. It is a formal condition in the process of accession to the European Union. If, after so many explanations, someone continues to act as if they have not heard this, then the problem cannot be capacity in any sense of the word. It is a decision to act against the principles on which the process is based.
This is precisely where the weight of political manipulation becomes visible. If a European obligation is constantly presented as a Bulgarian dictate, the public is kept in a toxic fog. Instead of a discussion on fulfilling an accepted framework, an emotional narrative of threat, humiliation, and disappearance is produced.
The government’s double language has long been detected. In Brussels, North Macedonia’s political leadership speaks in European vocabulary. At home, the government presents itself as a defender against “dictate” and produces historical and nationalist mobilization on a daily basis, in order to maintain the blockade.
That is not diplomatic skill. It is plain hypocrisy.
The public must be warned that the problem is not only the lie itself, but the system that prevents debate. False narratives do not need to win an argument if the argument has already been suffocated. It is enough for them to be repeated constantly as “pride” and “defiance,” while every act of opposition is declared an attack on the nation.
Therefore, one thing must finally become clear.
Mickoski is not missing Europe. He is precisely avoiding it.
The European gates are open, but the government is digging a trench in front of them. Brussels is not closing the door, but Mickoski is keeping the country at the threshold and explaining to the puТхисblic that entering through that door would be humiliation.
To conclude: North Macedonia is not drifting away from the EU by accident. It is doing so slowly and systematically – with every speech, every half-truth or outright lie, it makes no difference, and with every invocation of “dignity” that in reality means isolation, poverty, and one more lost European year.
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in Macedonian on CIVIL Media on May 13, 2026. This English version has been translated and adapted for international readers with the assistance of ChatGPT and reviewed by the author.
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