Last night, shortly before midnight, the new government of the Republic of North Macedonia was sworn in.
This is the 20th government since the independence of North Macedonia and Hristijan Mickoski is the 13th Prime Minister.
In the swearing-in, Mickoski used the constitutional name of the Republic of North Macedonia, specifying that the adjective "North" was an embarrassment to him, but that he was currently powerless.
At the same time, he was clear and unequivocal about bilateral relations with the Republic of Bulgaria.
"This kind of Bulgarian dictate will not pass under these conditions and there will be no constitutional changes as long as I am prime minister," Mickoski said.
Before the vote, the European Front MPs, led by Ziadin Sela, said they would not participate in the election of the new government. In his brief address at a press conference, Sela said that implementing the Negotiating Framework with the Republic of Bulgaria is the only possible way to start negotiations with the European Union, but the government led by Hristijan Mickoski will not do that.
The new government has announced a "furious start" and solving most of the problems in all spheres of public life "in the first 100 days" of its rule.
Of course, it will be a furious start when the new government announces the borrowing of one billion euros from the Republic of Hungary, without saying what these funds will be used for and at what interest rate.
Government-to-government borrowing is typical of authoritarian regimes.
The new Minister for Education, Vesna Janiewska, has announced serious reforms in education, which has been at an 'enviably' low level for decades. In order to make such reforms, a serious approach is needed to this area, which in my opinion is the most important, and this takes time. Teaching has been ruined for years, the approach and the way it is taught is confusing, so that students show very poor results. Furthermore, North Macedonia cannot afford the 'luxury' of crippling the younger generations with low-quality education and making them uncompetitive on the labour market.
Energy, destroyed for years, is Mickoski's favourite sector. The new Ministry of Energy, which will merge the Energy Agency and the responsibilities of the Ministry of Economy, is for many a pure cosmetic change or rather a reorganisation from "empty to empty". No energy strategy, no direction and no course. I do not know what this ministry will do.
The REC (Mining and Energy Complex) in Bitola, built by Russia during the time of socialist Macedonia and which supplies more than 70% of the country with electricity, decades ago became a kindergarten staffed by party cadres from the two largest political parties.
There are Hydropower plants in Western European countries, but they are insured according to all rules and regulations, which is not the case for the Bitola River, which is one of the biggest polluters not only in the Balkans, but also in Europe. The measuring stations in Bitola show enormous pollution, and Bitola is the city with the most malignant diseases per capita. Although for years people have been calling for action to be taken, no one is particularly interested in this problem.
I would look at the energy sector in Northern Macedonia in more detail in a future article.
Everything that is happening in North Macedonia reminds me of the story of The Count of Monte Cristo, who dug a tunnel for years and, instead of getting out, ended up in the cell of another prisoner, who was sentenced to a much longer term than his.
I wish it were not so, but unfortunately, many future young generations will be victims of the backward education system, the party burden, the injustice, and the backward healthcare system in Northern Macedonia. I BGNES
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Eli Sekulovska, human rights activist in North Macedonia. The analysis was written exclusively for BGNES News Agency
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