FLASH
Shkruar nga Skënder Asani
Integration is not just a technical process of approximation to EU standards; it is an internal transformative process, requiring the dismantling of oligarchic monopolies and the construction of a new social contract on the foundations of the Ohrid Agreement. Therefore, the historic moment that Macedonia faces is more than a political challenge: it is an existential test. The choice is clear: either embrace the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement as the foundation of a just and inclusive multiethnic statehood, or return to the logic of exclusion and oligarchy that has produced crisis and stagnation.
With the declaration of independence of Macedonia in the early 1990s, a new state-building path was opened, which, instead of being based on the principles of liberal democracy and civic equality, was oriented towards the centralization of power and political-cultural unitarism. This unitarism, conceived as the basis for the consolidation of the Macedonian state identity, was accompanied by the selective privatization of social capital, producing an exclusive Macedonian oligarchy. This oligarchy not only monopolized the banking system and strategic sectors of the economy, but also created an internal political regime, where power alternated between the two Macedonian blocs, without ever violating the common interests of the dominant elite.
This configuration was accompanied by the systematic exclusion of Albanians from economic, political and institutional processes. The Macedonian oligarchy, through its connections with Serbian economic and state circles, designed a silent strategy of marginalizing Albanians, accompanying this with exclusionary rhetoric and political discourse that defined them as “foreigners” within the state. Such an approach not only damaged domestic development prospects, but also blocked Euro-Atlantic integration processes for a long time.
The Ohrid Framework Agreement (2001) brought about a paradigmatic reversal. It became the fundamental document of civic equality and interethnic coexistence, opening new horizons for Euro-Atlantic integration and for the equal participation of Albanians and other communities in the institutional and economic life of the country. However, its implementation remained complicated and often accompanied by tensions, mainly due to the resistance of the Macedonian oligarchy, which aimed to relativize its spirit. Any advancement of Albanians in state institutions was interpreted as a threat to the previous dominance, producing new mechanisms of political and administrative obstacles.
A clear illustration of this dynamic was seen after the Prespa Agreement (2018). The international support enjoyed by the then government was not used to consolidate the Ohrid Agreement and conclude the integration cycle, but was instrumentalized by the Macedonian oligarchy to attempt to redesign the constitutional order, with the aim of diluting or relativizing the Ohrid Agreement. The attempt to change the preamble of the Constitution was only one of the concrete forms of this tendency, while the secret agreements between the two main Macedonian parties aimed at marginalizing the Albanian political factor that had emerged from the 2001 war.
The strategy was clear: on the one hand, the fragmentation of the Albanian political scene to reduce its negotiating power; on the other, the use of nationalist rhetoric to stigmatize Albanian political entities as forces with separatist tendencies. This logic aimed to create a favorable terrain for relativizing the Ohrid Agreement and shifting attention towards artificial topics, such as the issue with Bulgaria, which often served only as an alibi to avoid internal obligations of equality.
In North Macedonia, the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, intended as an instrument of transitional justice and the cleansing of political life from corruption, became the object of a sophisticated operation by the local oligarchy, which, with invisible but synchronized mechanisms, managed to undermine it from within and render it ineffective. This destruction did not happen by chance, but was part of a silent strategy to protect the interests of entrenched economic-political networks, which perceived this body as an existential threat to the status quo. However, such intervention did not remain without consequences, because some of the actors who led this process were exposed in the international arena and found themselves on the blacklists of partner states that had initially supported this project as hope for a new chapter of the rule of law in the country. In this way, with these acts, Macedonia's prospects are being drowned out and this represents the most direct intervention of the oligarchy to hinder the progress of the state in the European integration processes, transforming the country into a reality with parallel systems, where the shadows of private interests prevail over the light of law and democracy. Because the rule of law and the construction of a legal state are among the basic conditions of European integration, the sabotage of this project by the oligarchy is nothing more than a deliberate action to slow down the country's integration into the EU, sacrificing the strategic interests of the state only to preserve its narrow privileges.
E gjithë kjo u reflektua edhe disa muaj pas zgjedhjeve, kur ishte paralajmëruar një takim ndërmjet kryeministrit dhe liderit të opozitës maqedone, i cili vetëm pak ditë më parë akuzohej nga institucioni shtetëror për antikorrupsion për krim të organizuar, por një ditë pas këtij takimi i njëjti institucion publikoi kumtesë se të gjitha procedurat ndaj tij ndërpriteshin. Pas kësaj drame të dy liderëve të dy partive maqedone, pasoi cënimi i neneve themeltare të Marrëveshjes së Ohrit, ndërsa nga partia opozitare, e cila ndër vite kishte ndërtuar narrativën e saj mbi shtetformimin dhe multietnicitetin, u shfaq një heshtje totale, që në vetvete dëshmon se kur cënohet Marrëveshja e Ohrit, më shumë mbizotëron kalkulimi politik sesa obligimi ndaj kontratës shoqërore mbi të cilën është ndërtuar vetë shteti.
Kjo logjikë politike, e artikuluar sidomos nga VMRO-DPMNE me diskursin e saj të ashtuquajtur “vtoro poluvreme” (pjesa e dytë e lojës) dhe me moton e fushatës zgjedhore të vitit të kaluar “Për rikthimin e shtetit”, dëshmoi se oligarkia maqedonase e sheh Marrëveshjen e Ohrit jo si akt themelor të shtetësisë së re, por si pengesë për ruajtjen e privilegjeve të saj. Në këtë kuptim, sfida e vërtetë për Maqedoninë nuk qëndron vetëm te kontestet bilaterale me fqinjët, por para së gjithash te rezistenca e brendshme ndaj zbatimit të plotë të Marrëveshjes së Ohrit.
Në horizontin ekonomik të Maqedonisë po shfaqet një realitet i mbështjellë me shumëshmëri pyetjesh, ku hyrja e miliardave në formë huash shfaqet si një shpresë e jashtme për stabilitet financiar, por njëkohësisht ngre dilema të brendshme mbi origjinën dhe destinacionin e këtyre fondeve; sepse përtej fasadës së zhvillimit dhe integrimit ekonomik, lind pyetja nëse këto mjete janë thjesht një instrument i financimit ndërkombëtar, apo ndoshta një mekanizëm i rafinuar i oligarkisë vendore për të zyrtarizuar dhe legjitimuar kapitalin e grumbulluar në mënyra të padukshme, duke e veshur me petkun e huave shtetërore; një dilemë që kërkon një qasje të mençur, jo vetëm për të ruajtur sovranitetin financiar, por edhe për të shmangur shndërrimin e shtetit në një platformë ku kufiri midis interesit publik dhe interesit oligarkik zbehet deri në pikën e padallueshme.
If Macedonia truly aspires to become part of the European Union, it must understand that the Ohrid Agreement is not simply an internal agreement of 2001, but a political and social contract on which the legitimacy of this multiethnic state is built. Any attempt to relativize it is, in essence, an attempt to undermine the foundations of coexistence and to return the country to the spiral of crises of the 1990s. Albanians, with their political and historical contribution, are not only partners, but also guarantors of the stability and Euro-Atlantic orientation of the country. Only through the affirmation of real equality, full institutional inclusion and a fair division of state responsibilities, can Macedonia become a functional, democratic and European state.
Integration is not just a technical process of approximation to EU standards; it is an internal transformative process, requiring the dismantling of oligarchic monopolies and the construction of a new social contract on the foundations of the Ohrid Agreement.
Therefore, the historic moment that Macedonia faces is more than a political challenge: it is an existential test. The choice is clear: either embrace the spirit of the Ohrid Agreement as the foundation of a just and inclusive multiethnic statehood, or return to the logic of exclusion and oligarchy that has produced crisis and stagnation. Only by deciding on the real equality of citizens and on the new social contract can Macedonia emerge from the shadow of transition and project itself as a European state, equal and sustainable. This is not just a demand of Albanians; it is the fundamental condition for the very survival and European future of Macedonia.
Lini një Përgjigje