Marjan Zabrcanec, National Coordinator for Strategic Communications and Implementation of the Communication Strategy in the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, for Perspectives 2021, organized by CIVIL.
We are on the threshold of a new year in which we expect that it will really be better than the previous one. I think that every citizen already says that. Somehow, as everyone is saying – let this Covid 2020 leave as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, I think the next one will be a Covid – year, but of course, it will be a year out of Covid. First of all, I think that those, I would call them, emergency or crisis communications in the public, related to dealing with the pandemic caused by Covid-19, will continue, with the fact that this time we have a new challenge ahead of us, and that is informing the population about the vaccine.
In 2021, there should be mass vaccination of the world population, including the citizens of North Macedonia. I expect mass information from the government and institutions to the citizens, in order to bring closer the information about the benefit of the vaccine, that it is a scientifically proven medical ingredient that, and how, should be received by all citizens, in order to protect ourselve from the world pandemic.
We have had countless misinformation about the appearance of Covid-19, and now we are facing new misinformation about the vaccine. That is why I say that Covid-19 and the vaccine, as one of the main measures related to the way out of that pandemic, will continue to be the main focus. Of course, the information about the measures, about the protection, the masks, the distance, the non-grouping will continue, I hope, having in mind the vaccine, on a smaller scale. However, the information on the measures provided by the state for the vulnerable categories of citizens and for all citizens affected by the crisis will continue, regardless of whether it is economic assistance or another type of social assistance or health measures. Undoubtedly, Covid-19 in 2021 will be the number one topic.
From the crisis or the emergency communications, I think that the relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria will continue to be at the top of the interest of the public, the media and the political developments. Especially since they are related to the start of negotiations for membership of North Macedonia in the European Union.
I expect in 2021 that we start negotiations and we have mass communication, intensive communication around the start of negotiations. At the beginning of the year there will be more information in the public about the negotiations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, in the hope that a solution will be reached, informing the citizens about the solution itself and further, about the start of negotiations.
Of course, except for the start of the negotiations, everything else, both Covid-19 and the problem with Bulgaria, is not something that someone planned, something that we wish to have. We want those things to be left behind as soon as possible. I say that the focus will be on these two topics, but also on dealing with the misinformation that arises from these two topics and this negative phenomenon in society in general.
We as a government plan in 2021 to seriously engage in preventing the spread of false news, ie resisting the phenomenon of misinformation, in cooperation with our strategic allies, NATO, other governments of EU member states and NATO member states.
We have already announced and plan to implement it in 2021, to find ways to make media literacy part of the educational curriculum. It is also part of the new educational reform that is announced and which is of interest to the public.
We will continue to implement the transparency strategy. Here, I use the opportunity for CIVIL, exclusive information, that for the measurement for 2019, published a few days ago, the association Action Southeast Europe puts North Macedonia, ie the government, the executive power of North Macedonia, in the first place in terms of openness compared to countries region. We have been holding this prestige since 2017, after a change, a political change of government.
Northern Macedonia from being last reached the first place after the openness. The transparency of the government is measured, the availability, the accessibility is measured. We are honored to be the first in the region in terms of transparency, accountability and openness. And it is not an easy task to maintain this first place and ensure that active transparency further.
In 2021, I expect the topic of cleansing the judiciary in public to be seriously addressed. At the end of this year, the concept will be presented, which I believe the judicial authorities will approve, adopt and we will finally see concrete solutions related to the separation of the dishonest from the honest judges in 2021.
Another important project, an important topic that is of the highest interest of the population, I would say decades of interest of the population, is the census. We plan to conduct the census in April. It is the most important statistical, perhaps more than a statistical operation for the country. We have not conducted a census for more than a decade. The data from that census are, and how, important for the projections for the development of the country, above all, economic and social, of course, much less political.
Another topic that will undoubtedly be imposed, and is economic – the new Macedonian energy. We are facing serious processes for gasification of the country. In 2021, the construction of the secondary network for a dozen Macedonian cities is expected to begin. So, plans will begin to be prepared, the realization of the installation of gas pipes that will reach households in a dozen Macedonian cities will begin. I really think that is to be noted and should be noted. The number of photovoltaic power plants, photovoltaics that use the sun as a source of energy to produce electricity will also increase. The number of installed wind farms in North Macedonia will increase and I really think that it is a new economic, energy wave, which is beneficial to the environment at the same time.
2021 will also be a year of change in terms of policies for using or not using cannabis in the country. I expect an increase in the number of diagnoses or diseases whose symptoms are being treated or treated with medical cannabis. I believe that the use of medical cannabis, not only in the world, is slowly gaining serious support from the citizens in the country as well. Of course, there are fewer citizens who support decriminalization and depenalization, but given the benefits of using cannabis for medical purposes, I think it is quite right in 2021 to expect some steps towards decriminalization and depenalization in the portion of small quantities for personal use. Of course, the police will continue in 2021 with strong intensity to clear up criminal and corrupt actions related to drug trafficking, which are already commonplace. Those actions of the Ministry of Interior are everyday and I believe that in 2021 they will continue.
2021, let’s not forget, will also be the year of local elections. Unfortunately, the citizens in a certain period will be witnesses or participants in, I say again, moments of dirty campaign between the party or political entities. I think the environment is improving in terms of public communications related to the elections. However, we still have political actors in the country who continue to conduct a dirty campaign, a black campaign, campaigns full of hate speech.
The citizens should know that within that environment, pre-election, which will happen sometime in the fall of 2021, there will be moments of dishonest communication that some of the party centers will implement.
Finally, I think that 2021 will be the year of the Macedonian language, because it is the centenary of the birth of Blazhe Koneski. That moment is recognized, marked by UNESCO. There will be a series of activities in the country and beyond related to the work and character of Blazhe Koneski, the codifier of the modern Macedonian language. I expect, in Ljubojno, the old, now demolished school, which was the second in a row, after the Second World War, where the Macedonian language was taught, to finally start the reconstruction for which the government provided funds and to turn that old school into a center for care and promotion of the Macedonian language.
