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Nationalist rhetoric and the European future of North Macedonia

2024-04-27 21:12:18, Kosova & Bota CNA

The nationalist rhetoric and the tendencies of the electorate to support the parties of the right spectrum in North Macedonia are seen by analysts as harmful to the fragile democracy in terms of the country's integration path in the European Union but also in terms of inter-ethnic relations.

The deep result in the first round in favor of the presidential candidate of VMRO-DPMNE and the expectations for an equally deep victory of this party in the parliamentary elections on May 8, adds to the dilemmas in the public opinion regarding the integration process of Macedonia. North towards the European Union.

The long drag of integration seems to have disappointed many people, and the bad result in the first round of the ruling Social-Democrats speaks for that. But how harmful can a government, eventually led by a nationalist party, such as VMRO-DPMNE, be for the country?

Analyst Jelal Neziri, highlighting the rhetoric used by the VMRO candidate for president, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, says that it is not excluded that inter-ethnic relations will not be so good if she wins the race.

He estimates that the presidential race is clear and that Mr. Pendarovski is unlikely to overturn the result of the first round in the runoff. Meanwhile, regarding the expectations for the victory of VMRO-DPMNE, the analyst says that this party has no interest in advancing the process of the country's integration into the EU.

"If you analyze the vocabulary used during the pre-election campaign, if you analyze its positions in relation to the constitutional changes stemming from the 'French proposal', it can be concluded that VMRO-DPMNE is not interested in the country moving forward towards integration into the European Union. Therefore, even with VMRO-DPMNE at the head of the government, because it is very likely to happen because it got a surprisingly good result in the first round of the presidential elections, it may happen that the European integration process does not go as it should " , says Mr. Neziri.

The Director for Europe of the American International Republican Institute, Paul McCarthy, told the Voice of America that the size of the victory of the VMRO presidential candidate was surprising, while it was clear, as he says, that the VMRO would come out first. He emphasizes the dissatisfaction of the electorate with the SDSM government and in particular with its presidential candidate:

" If VMRO wins the parliamentary elections, it will be a clear sign that the people of North Macedonia want to see a new path. What this means for North Macedonia's membership (in the European Union) depends on the actions of the new government regarding Bulgaria's position on the Constitution and on other issues, such as language and others. I hope that North Macedonia will continue to resolve its disputes with Bulgaria, so that it can continue on its path to EU membership ," says Mr. McCarthy.

The Deputy Prime Minister in the Government of North Macedonia in charge of European affairs, Bojan Maricic, meanwhile says that the concept of raising nationalism and tensions always goes to the detriment of the state. "The country is threatened by a whirlwind of nationalism and populism that does not know where it can take us", he says.

"You see that in the campaign VMRO-DPMNE does not talk about European integration; a nationalist rhetoric is raised, which was even accepted and launched by the Democratic Union for Integration, but the citizens will not see the benefit of this rhetoric" , says Mr. Maricic.

Analyst Albert Musliu observes a tendency of the influence of the Russian Federation in order to incite fear and mistrust towards the EU among the inhabitants of North Macedonia:

"The internal narrative consists of disinformation, the promotion of Euro-skepticism, the promotion of ideas that the EU has not yet been destroyed or that the US has lost its step as a leader in the world, they are part of the Russian narrative which tends to increase skepticism to the Euro-Atlantic processes, but also to raise internal tensions, either on the ethnic or religious level, or on any other level where there is any internal disagreement in Macedonia" , says Mr. Musliu.

On the other hand, the analyst Neziri says that the Albanian parties that will be invited to the new government coalition, which will be led by VMRO-DPMNE, can condition their participation on the implementation of constitutional changes, namely the introduction of the Bulgarian minority in constitution.

Jelal Neziri says that it is not only a European trend of recent times that the forces of the right spectrum win the elections, while for the circumstances of North Macedonia, he hopes that its basic democratic values ??will be preserved./ VOA