Exhausted, bored, and going through the motions
With the latest “agenda” coming from the government of Zoran Zaev through his often-hard-to-find minister for European Affairs, Nikola Dimitrov, it would appear that the current Macedonian government is exhausted, bored, and simply going through the motions of governing.
This latest plan — “Europe at Home” (also dubbed “Action 21”) — was unveiled on March 9 by Nikola Dimitrov, the deputy prime minister for European Affairs, formerly the foreign minister, and one of the chief architects of the so-called Prespa agreement with Greece which forcibly changed Macedonia’s name and identity against the will of the majority of Macedonians. Dimitrov, who frequently goes missing from the public eye, was back that week to promote the latest government plan as Macedonia continues in the EU waiting room.
It’s worth remembering that the Zaev government, which puts a great deal of emphasis on marketing, public relations, Tweets and Facebook posts, and other forms of self-promotion, has issued various other plans since forming in 2017, including the “3–6–9” agenda and the “Plan 18.” Whatever became of those no one really knows. I rather think their purpose was simply to show the Macedonian public, and importantly, the Western elites who prop up the Zaev government, that the government had a plan, a roadmap, a way “onward and upwards” as Nikola Dimitrov is so fond of saying.
And what is the current “Europe at Home” agenda? According to one media report, Zaev was quoted as stating “‘Europe at home’ Agenda translates the principles and commitments set as a priority in the government’s Action 21 plan, which reaffirmed our determination to implement European standards and values in every segment of our society. Through that, the citizens should receive better services and a better life…” Dimitrov was quoted as stating “The document we have gives a clear picture not only of all the tasks set in our reform plan and that we have an obligation to fulfill, but also accurately delegates competencies and responsibilities.”
That’s a lot of words there from both men. That’s because they needed a lot of words to fill the space, as they said precisely nothing. This is what is known as a “word salad” — a lot of words with no essence.
Both Zaev and Dimitrov know that this is the case — a lot of words, no action. They repeat it — as they have done many times before — because they have nothing left to give other than empty words.
Let’s be honest: the Zaev government is out of ideas, exhausted, bored and going through the motions. Corruption scandal after corruption scandal. Setback after setback. Giving away part of Macedonia, its name, identity, history and culture, bit by bit, each time some “friendly neighbor” demands it and the Western clubs of NATO and the EU noddingly approve that that is what must be done in order to join the clubs — this is the legacy that Zaev and Dimitrov and their supporters will leave for Macedonia and the Macedonians.
It did not have to be this way, because there are always alternatives. But then again, Zaev and his government are out of ideas, exhausted or bored not even bothering to look for those alternatives because they require hard work, sacrifice, imagination, and fortitude. Much easier, then, to shut down the debate and say there is no alternative.
And so Macedonia is left with little to nothing except another useless plan.
Two more things: first, one of the better examples of Zaev’s exhaustion and boredom is his constant blaming of others. Within just one week Zaev managed to blame both NATO and the EU for the lack of coronavirus vaccines. On March 10 Zaev essentially blamed Macedonia’s commitment to NATO for the lack of vaccines to which an unnamed NATO spokesperson responded quickly and directly stating “We won’t comment on remarks attributed to the Prime Minister of North Macedonia.” The spokesperson added, tellingly, “NATO takes no position on national vaccination strategies. This remains a national, sovereign prerogative.” Well, at least Macedonia retains some sovereignty under NATO. And then on March 16 Zaev turned around and blamed the EU stating, according to one media report, “I would be dishonest if I did not admit that the EU disappointed us with the procurement of coronavirus vaccines. But they told us that at this moment it is impossible for the Union to share the vaccines.” This type of behavior — publicly blaming international institutions you are a member of or hope to join, point, yet again, to the fact that Zaev and his government are exhausted, bored, and out of creative, fresh ideas.
Finally — and this ties in neatly with the above — I find it interesting to note that Zaev assigned ownership of the “new” agenda to Dimitrov (“Zaev underlined that the plan was prepared by Dimitrov with the team from the Secretariat for European Affairs and in consultation with several ministries” according to one report). My guess is that Zaev is hedging his bets, waiting for the plan, like Dimitrov, to finally run out of proverbial steam so that he will have one more person to blame other than himself, Zoran Zaev.
