By XHABIR DERALLA
If Bulgaria wanted to show that it has abandoned its dark past (both Fascist and Stalinist) and that it’s not playing by Russian notes in the present, such an aggression against North Macedonia shouldn’t have been allowed.
We can be proud of the path we have taken so far. On June 23, at the EU Western Balkans Summit, the constructive, peaceful and moderate approach nurtured by progressive politicians and intellectuals over the past five years in North Macedonia won.
It’s true that we will not start EU accession negotiations, but that’s not our defeat. The fact that North Macedonia and Albania do not continue is a difficult defeat and disgrace for the EU and Bulgaria. They are defeated and ashamed. The decision that Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski announced is more than justified. For great respect is also the support of Albania and the statements of that great Balkan guy Edi Rama.
That does not mean that our European path is not there, on the contrary, we are Europe now more than ever before. A Europe in which the identity and dignity of all are respected, regardless of their size and wealth. We are more than ever closer to meeting all conditions, not for starting negotiations, but for full membership. Even though this might sound exaggerated, it’s true if we at least compare ourselves with the situation of some EU countries, starting from Bulgaria. And if we take a look at how Bulgaria and some other countries were at the beginning of their EU membership, we really are incomparably better and deserve that membership.
While the development of the situation is extremely negative, we need not despair. Readiness for dialogue, as opposed to confrontation, resolving of disputes, instead of their deepening, introduced by Zoran Zaev in the Macedonian political reality. This has brought great advantage to North Macedonia. Our country today has more than ever friends and supporters in Europe and around the world.
We overcame the decade-long dispute with Greece, which is now a partner. We developed good-neighborly relations with Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. North Macedonia is a leader in the region with the Open Balkan initiative in which, apart from Albania and Serbia, Montenegro is now also approaching, which means 4 of 6 countries in the region that until recently was almost submerged in hostility and bloodshed. We showed what it’s like to be small, yet big, that political will, dialogue and good intentions bridge the until yesterday unbridgeable differences. And we became a member of NATO that sealed our sovereignty and security.
And now, the Fascist-Stalinists from Bulgaria with their pockets full of rubles, have defeated their progressive and pro-Western Prime Minister, Kiril Petkov, in the dirtiest way possible. In an insidious Bulgarian way. I am aware of the political incorrectness in this paragraph, but it doesn’t by far come close to the aggressive nature of the Bulgarian policy. The hell with them!
Not even France deviated from the cliché. The perfidy of the French politics and diplomacy has been well-known throughout history and the present. They didn’t deviate even a millimeter of what is well-known to those who know history. What my neighbor would say, the Americans and the British built their country after World War II, in which they barely fired a gun, and even gave them part of Germany to administer (occupy), but that’s another story. I know I’m not politically correct, but I’m sure that my neighbor was also not wrong.
I wouldn’t even want to comment the statements of EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. It’s enough that the former EU Ambassador, great friend of our country, Erwan Foure, called for his resignation. Analyst Florian Bieber told Brussels that their attitude towards North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is not a good start for the European future of Ukraine and Moldavia, to which they granted a candidate status.
Let’s not forget to congratulate Ukraine and Moldavia on their EU candidate status. But our moral obligation is to tell them that they need to be cautious, because the experience of Macedonia, as well as of Albania, with double dealing Brussels is bitter. It’s a great success to become an EU member state, but it doesn’t mean much more than that.
Brussels is not a place where there is fair play. Bulgaria is not an excuse. The EU could have and had an obligation to do more, much more.
Life goes on. The world is in its biggest crisis since World War II. It’s good to be European in these dark times. Perhaps Brussels is not acting European, and Sofia has strayed away in its Fascist-Stalinist past, but North Macedonia, along with Albania, is teaching a lesson on European values and integrity and dignity. Now is the time to fight to stay European, so that the rashists do not to take over the European future of North Macedonia and put it in Putin’s lap for a handful of rubles.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
