2021 North Macedonia:
Morally humiliated and disgraced EU
IFIMES International Institute
At the EU summit in Thessaloniki in 2003, a clear message on the European perspective of Western Balkan countries was sent. Eighteen years after the EU summit in Thessaloniki, only the Republic of Croatia has been coopted into the EU, two countries have begun the accession talks without much progress, two countries are hoping to get the candidate status, while Kosovo did not even get the visa liberalization regime.
The IFIMES international institute recently publicized an analysis titled “2021 North Macedonia: Is EU heading towards its next historical mistake?”, link: https://www.ifimes.org/en/
Secret intelligence operation “Knight’s move” is underway
Nikola Gruevski’s three-year political asylum in Hungary will expire in October 2021. In the meantime, Gruevski has been negotiating possible obtaining of political asylum with Russia and Turkey. His third option would be to return to North Macedonia after the local elections in an attempt to overthrow Zoran Zaev and his government. In fact, this scenario is currently being practically implemented through creation of a new ambience for his return. The publication of various “non-papers” by his political-intelligence sponsors was aimed to contribute to such a goal.
Monitoring of Mijalkov – Kamchev Case
Analysts warn of the fact that because of the omissions of the office of the prosecutor and individual prosecutors, the Prosecutorial Council has still not conducted an investigation into the Sasho Mijalkov’s case and established responsibility of specific prosecutors.
Western Balkans definitely in the “grip” of Russia?
Analysts believe that the Western Balkans, which has a total population of 18 million, or less than half the population of Poland, does not constitute a threat to the integration of the 450 million population of the EU and could be quickly integrated into the EU, if there was the political will on the part of EU member countries to do so. The issue of EU enlargement is primarily an issue of existence of political will for enlargement, that is admission of new members into the EU.
Executive order of US President Biden on introduction of sanctions – “Black list”
Analysts believe that the executive order of US President Biden is a warning and message to all in the Western Balkans, including Macedonian authorities, to intensify their fight against crime and corruption, as well as combat and confront negative occurrences and individuals that can jeopardize regional peace, stability and prosperity. It is important that the executive order encompasses Albania as well, because it creates a framework to have the current Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has been marked as the “European king of the narco-business”, “black listed” by the US administration.
For the Republic of North Macedonia it is of particular importance that all those who obstruct or do not recognize the Prespa Agreement, which brought peace, stability and prosperity of North Macedonia, are sanctioned and put on the “black list.” Since the arrival of the current government to power in 2017, not a single interethnic incident has been recorded, while during Nikola Gruevski’s rule interethnic incidents were a regular occurrence. If the US administration wants to ensure lasting peace and long-term stability, it is important that US sanctions are introduced also against Bulgarian senior officials, not just because of the blocking of the enlargement process but also because of their secret cooperation with Russia and their connections with the mafia-criminal structures. One should not exclude the possibility that after the introduction of US sanctions and inclusion of two Bulgarian tycoons close to Boyko Borisov on the “black list”, sanctions also get introduced against Boyko Borisov, Ekaterina Zaharieva, Krasimir Karakachanov, Andrey Kovatchev, Angel Dzambaski and many others.
Communist dictator’s bodyguard halts EU enlargement process
Analysts believe that the EU is morally humiliated and disgraced, because it had allowed Boyko Borisov, a former bodyguard of a communist dictator Todor Zhivkov and until recently Bulgarian Prime Minister, to block the beginning of talks between North Macedonia (and Albania) with the EU, as well as the overall enlargement process. Boyko Borisov recently sent a letter to EU leaders asking them to help him protect Bulgaria from the alleged pro-Crimean Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, although he personally he is blocking and in such a way dictating the process of enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans – for the sake of someone’s interest. A question to be asked is how NATO allowed such a conduct of its member country, particularly with respect to another ally and full-fledged member of the organization – North Macedonia.
Ljubljana/Brussels/Washington/
Footnotes:
[1] IFIMES – The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana, Slovenia, has a special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)/UN since 2018.
[2] Executive Order on Blocking Property And Suspending Entry Into The United States Of Certain Persons Contributing To The Destabilizing Situation In The Westernern Balkans https://www.whitehouse.gov/
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