No. 3 Macedonian Matters
No. 3 Macedonian Matters
Document delays and a new, old party for Skopje's mayor
Don’t feel like reading? Listen to a narrated version of the newsletter here:
This is Macedonian Matters. I’m Aleksej Demjanski.
This is your weekly curated news from North Macedonia.
Thanks for reading! If you haven’t subscribed and want to get the weekly newsletter in your inbox:
The Matters
Chaos around renewal of documents with the new constitutional name
Skopje mayor Danela Arsovska takes over as head of the Nova Alternativa party
Chaos around renewal of documents with new constitutional name
Per the Prespa Agreement with Greece, North Macedonia had five years (until February 12, 2024… three weeks from today) to transition all national documents to include the new name. This includes driver licenses, identity cards, and passports. However, over the past five years the government failed to prepare and implement this process in a timely manner. Legal changes were made allowing for passports and driver licenses to have “North” added in front of Macedonia, but not on identity cards. Institutions also continued issuing old documents.
As such, thousands are still without the proper documents. There is also confusion as to whether valid and unexpired documents with the old name will remain valid. Citizens fear they could be fined for having incorrect documents or unable to receive pensions and healthcare or even vote in upcoming elections. The government stated unexpired documents with the old name would remain valid and no one would be fined. Banks and the State Electoral Commission have reassured citizens they can access their accounts and vote. However, documents without “North” may not be valid abroad and as such travel may be restricted.
Despite some assurances, a surge of people trying to renew documents has overwhelmed the Interior Ministry. Slots to renew documents are mostly available in September and October. In turn, the ministry opened a special facility in Skopje to renew documents on a first come, first serve basis. Citizens, mostly retirees, have been seen waiting for hours in lines to complete the procedure.
Amid this chaos, the opposition VMRO-DPMNE submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court to prolong the deadline for the documents. The President, Stevo Pendarovski also noted that quick changes to laws regulating identity cards and passports could allow for this process to be prolonged until September or October. Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said he was not opposed, but highlighted that this would have to happen in coordination with Greece as the changes are part of a bilateral agreement. Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani said the focus now should be on renewing documents as fast as possible, not negotiating with Greece for an extension.
As citizens continue to scramble to renew their documents, it is unclear where all this will lead. After having to bear the burden of accepting the change of the country’s name, citizens also have to pay up in order to renew their documents. As Aleksandar Samardjiev reports for OBCT, “Macedonians pay about 6 Euros for a new ID card, about 10 Euros for a driver's license and about 40 Euros for a new passport.”
Here’s a video (in Macedonian) by Vidi Vaka showing some of the recent chaos to renew documents:
In the video, President Pendarovski in a clip from аn interview on Sitel TV, comments on the despair of citizens: “It is a shameful humiliation of Macedonian citizens and unnecessary.” Vidi Vaka also has a great article overviewing the situation in Macedonian that I recommend reading via Google Translate. Balkan bureaucracy at its finest.
Skopje mayor Danela Arsovska takes over as head of Nova Alternativa party
Despite announcing the formation of her own party, this past week Skopje mayor Danela Arsovska took over the reins of the old Nova Alternativa (New Alternative) party. The party was formed years ago by defectors of VMRO-Narodna (VMRO-People’s Party) which itself defected from the main center-right party VMRO-DPMNE. Nova Alternativa has since its formation mostly been a part of various coalitions led by SDSM.
Arsovska became mayor of Skopje in 2021 as an independent candidate backed by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE. Since coming to power, she has had a falling out with VMRO-DPMNE, particularly its leader Hristijan Mickoski. In turn she has been looking for support elsewhere. She considers herself to be the most attacked person in North Macedonia. Her ratings per opinion polling data have not fared well with a 71% disapproval rate and 53% of voters unwilling to reelect her as Skopje mayor.
Whether her transition to Nova Alternativa will yield anything at the upcoming parliamentary elections is yet to be seen, but Arsovska confirmed they will run in the elections. Mile Zecevik, general secretary for the SDSM, was seated in the first row of Arsovska’s inauguration as head of Nova Alternativa. It is unclear if this signifies that the two parties will cooperate in the coming period or if it was simply a formality as VMRO-DPMNE leadership was also invited but did not attend.
The lead up to the May 2024 parliamentary elections has seen several new initiatives and parties appear. Kumanovo Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski, who splintered from SDSM, formed the Za Nasha Makedonija - ZNAM (For Our Macedonia) Party while leading figures from the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) splintered to form the Democratic Movement. The Democratic Movement has since entered an Albanian opposition coalition with BESA and Alternativa forming the European Alliance for Change. Kosovo Prime Minister Kurti and his Vetvendosje (Self-Determination) party have opened a branch in North Macedonia backing this opposition group within the Albanian political bloc seeking to challenge the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) party and their 20 years in power. An unofficial visit by Kurti in August 2023 to formalize this process sparked controversy.
A technical government is set to come into force next week at the latest and in turn mark the start of the election season in North Macedonia.
That’s it for this week’s Macedonian Matters! Thanks for subscribing!
Have feedback? Feel free to reply to this email or add a comment on Substack.
See you next week!