Famous former Yugoslavia’s singer, Vesna Zmijanac, has an authentic verse about our situation: “The year has passed, and in my heart still lies the same wish!”
2019 was announced as one of the historical ones, when through Prespa’s Agreement and Good Neighborhood Agreement with Bulgaria, Macedonia will become the 30th NATO member and will get a date for start of negotiations with the EU. The wish, the aspiration of generations from the independence time, was this generation to see this come true.
Frankie Valli and The 4 Seasons in the legendary hit say: Too good to be true!
The historic 2019, which raised the expectations to the ceiling, ends up being just below average in the range. The good neighborly agreement with Bulgaria is clinically dead. Friendly neighbors through the highest academic institution have signed a resolution that the Macedonian language does not exist. They do not want to continue with the commission debate on overcoming irredentism in the textbooks, until the recognition that Goce Delchev is Bulgarian. Neighbor’s friendship is very expensive, this is a friendship that demands more than the real desire for good relations.
NATO is within our reach, but Spain has failed to overcome its domestic problem so that it can sign the ratification that would complete the entire ratification procedure for the member states and Macedonia to begin the celebration. However, most likely, 2020 will be the year for NATO fireworks! EU … ah …
So close and yet so far. 2019 ended with a pat on the shoulder, convinced that we had done a lot and that they agree that would lock our front door in front of our face.
March, May, new hope that is the only thing that is not dead yet. New expectations for the old wish – let us start negotiations with Brussels.
2019 has brought us a new date for the extraordinary parliamentary elections that the opposition has repeatedly demanded, and the Government has said that there is no chance of happening before the regular deadline. The campaign that has never stopped, and is not officially launched, is led by the ruling party’s promise that we are on the right track and that they now know how to join the EU.
The opposition is a hug for the disappointed, to whom strongly promises that they are never going to accept the name North Macedonia, but not officially!
Overall, 2019 failed to keep us off the track, and it remained to follow the trend of a year that kept us in expectation and uncertainty, which gives us the hope of fulfilling the desire from many years ago.
At home … it is not humane to repeat all those events that once marked the hopeful 2019. From corruption scandals, affairs with politicians and public figures, scandalous findings and trials for the symbol of justice…
Carried out from a childish dream and New Year’s magic, I searched on the world map to find Lapland, the land of Santa Claus. It is nowhere! I am afraid that even our politicians in the same desperation as me, seek to fulfill their promises through magic.
It seems it is time to realize that a white-haired old man is just a myth! People, Santa Claus does not exist!