In politics there is no permanent friendship or enmity. Only interests are permanent. And politicians with big egos are temporary. Principles and values matter in politics, as they are the bread and butter of ideology, but at the end of the day they weigh less than concrete interests. Meanwhile, leaders stand out not for their words, but for the decisions and actions they take!
Auhtor: Xhelal Neziri
Politics is a theater of emotions that has a pragmatic director. In ancient Greek the word pragma meant a work that was done, a fact. In a political context, pragmatism means the use of words, thoughts or emotions to make a concrete action or plan. Everything is a function of the end goal. Pragmatism measures policies only by their final outcome, not by the degree to which an idea is promoted. The idea and the ideal are very important for mobilizing the masses, as they constitute what is called ideology, but in the end you have to roll up your sleeves to do the work that needs to be done. Leaders, meanwhile, stand out not for their words, but for the decisions and actions they take!
A problem arises when the main goal in politics is to satisfy the personal ego or the majority of the members of a subject. This happened with the conditions that the leader of VMRO-PDMNE, Hristijan Mickovski, set in the meeting he had with the Prime Minister and leader of SDSM, Dimitar Kovacevski. He put on the table two options for the vote of the French Proposal, which foresees the inclusion of ethnic Bulgarians in the Constitution, as a precondition for the continuation of the negotiations: The first option – an enlarged government that would approve the constitutional changes, which would enter into force on the day of the country’s accession to the EU; and the second option – adoption of constitutional changes and snap early elections, with additional guarantees from the EU that Bulgaria will no longer blockade North Macedonia. In both options, VMRO-DPMNE has a main condition: government without DUI.
This attitude is more or less like the barsoleta of two jealous friends who go fishing: after they throw the hook into the river, one of the fishermen catches the goldfish. The golden fish, as always, tells him to let me go and I will grant him three wishes. But, he informs him that every wish he fulfills, his friend will earn twice as much. First wish, says the fisherman, I want a luxurious house, but my friend gets two. The second wish, he says, I want a ton of gold – friend two. When he sees that his friend wins more, the fisherman who caught the “golden fish” proudly says his third wish: take out one of my eyes!
If the purpose of conditioning the voting of constitutional amendments is political revenge against DUI, then it can be said that VMRO-DPMNE does not intend to gain power and implement its policies. The goal of Mickoski’s party is the removal of DUI from power and the impossibility of realizing its key promise in the 2020 elections – Albanian prime minister. However, VMRO-DPMNE may not take power even after the 2024 elections!
It is a fact that there is a tension in part of the membership of VMRO-DPMNE, caused by DUI in 2016, when it refused to continue the coalition and enabled the SDSM to form the government, even though it won two deputies less. VMRO-DPMNE says that the government formed after those elections is illegitimate for ethnic Macedonians, as the will of the majority of voters was not respected. This was karma for VMRO-DPMNE, which in 2006 formed the government with PDSH, even though DUI had won more deputies. Two years later, DUI managed to impose on VMRO-DPMNE the formation of the governing coalition according to the “winner with winner” principle, a cooperation that lasted until the 2016 elections.
This volatile relationship between VMRO-DPMNE and DUI has so far, however, been characterized by political pragmatism. Due to internal political and security stability, VMRO-DPMNE accepted a coalition with DUI, which until then labeled it as a “terrorist group” due to its roots in the 2001 conflict. On the other hand, DUI accepted a coalition with SDSM in 2016 to solve the name problem with Greece and to move forward towards NATO and EU integration, even though its former leader Zoran Zaev had published “bombshells”. compromising for many high-ranking “integrist” figures.
It is a fact that since its establishment in 2002 until today, DUI has been part of every government. The period 2006-2008 is an exception. However, in every election cycle, Ali Ahmet’s party has come first in terms of the number of deputies.
If the campaign is characterized by emotions, the formation of the government requires numbers. In the 2020 elections, Zaevi did a significant part of the campaign with the promise that he will send DUI to the opposition. But, after the elections, he continued the coalition as – the numbers imposed and determined it.
In politics there is no permanent friendship or enmity. Only interests are permanent. Politicians with big egos are temporary. Those whose egos are bigger than their weight in their parties. Principles and values matter in politics, as they are the bread and butter of ideology, but at the end of the day they weigh less than concrete interests. If a job has to be done, and it is in everyone’s interest, it has to be done with hell. Emotions and personal ego have no place in politics. If for a person ego is more important than purpose, then he has no place in a vibrant political scene, like that of North Macedonia.