Ex-Prime minister’s statements contradictory to the statements of the Prime minister

By Тео Блажевски On Apr 14, 2016 0

Two simillar statements a year appart, while the midway is forgotten.

VMRO-DPMNE’s president Nikola Gruevski, among other things, stated:

This is enough. This crisis must end. There are no endeavors for freedom of media nor for democracy and the fight against corruption behind this crisis, but weakness, fear, frustrations, attempts for identity bribery and toppling the government of the Republic of Macedonia by the opposition, which is lacking ideas and did not orientate to the politics, the ideas and the solutions but to espionage, blackmails and destruction. This must stop.

[Source: Kurir, Date: 07 April 2016]

EXPLANATION:

VMRO-DPMNE’s president Nikola Gruevski in a press conference held on 7 April 2016 spoke about the decision to dissolve the Parliament and to hold the general elections on 5 June 2016 when he gave untruthful statement regarding the political crisis in the Republic of Macedonia.

Gruevski stated that “there are no endeavors for freedom of media, nor for democracy and fight against corruption” behind the crisis, but that this crisis constitutes attempt to topple the government by the opposition.

This statement of Gruevski reminds us of his first statements that he gave as a Prime minister at the beginning of the political crisis. Then, on 31 January 2015 he declared that Zoran Zaev, as the leader of SDSM, attempted a putsch, allegedly supported by foreign intelligence units and employees of the Administration for Security and Counter Intelligence and wanted to topple the government and also threatened high officials, including him as well.

However, as we were watching the development of the situation, due to the SDSM’s project “The Truth About Macedonia” which published multiple wiretapped conversations, the so called “bombs”, and the involvement of the international community, we witnessed a significant shift of the initial qualifications of the ex-Prime minister Gruevski.

First, we witnessed negotiations that ended with the so called Przhino Agreement, a plan to end the political crisis, signed by the leaders of the four largest political parties in Macedonia, including Nikola Gruevski.

At the same time, an expert group hired by the European Commission and led by the German diplomat Reinhard Priebe after accessing the situatiot for several weeks authored a Report (the so called “Priebe’s Report”), which was published on 19 June 2015.

During the next month, this document as well as the EU’s conclusions from the end of June, the so called “Urgent reform priorities for the Republic of Macedonia”, were reviewed and adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia and the government as well, which at that time was led by Nikola Gruevski.

Moreover, the government authored an action plan based on the Report and EU’s conclusions and this was announced by the Prime minister Nikola Gruevski himself:

We act on behalf of the needs and the interests of all citizens, in order to attain the European standards for the start of the deserved EU membership negotiation talks. In meeting yesterday we adopted a Plan for new reforms regarding the European integration. This plan is new, wide-ranging and aspiring and I believe it will allow additional development alongside with the existing reforms, which we continuously implement. It is a plan based on our negotiations with EU, based on the recommendations from the European institutions and experts, this plan is focused on improving the rule of law, the freedoms, the electoral legislature, the fight against crime and corruption. Precisely, with specific measures, deadlines, project carriers and goals than need to be met. Moreover, the entire government and also a special team of ministers will be meeting several times a week in order to prepare and implement the Euro reforms. – stated Gruevski on his official Facebook profile, and this was republished by almost all media in Macedonia.

Furthermore, in February this year the Parliament debated these EU accepted directions as well as the activities of the Macedonian institutions. Later on, we witnessed law amendments in March and April up until the Parliament’s dissolution.

Based on all this, and especially on Gruevski’s statement given at the time when he was a Prime minister in July 2015 (quoted earlier), we assess the latest statement of VMRO-DPMNE’s leader Nikola Gruevski regarding the media, democracy and corruption, as untruthful.

SOURCES:

(07.04.2015) – Kurir – [Accessed on 08.04.2016]
(19.06.2015) – Telma TV – Извештајот на Прибе – [Accessed on 08.04.2016]
(08.07.2015) – time.mk—[Accessed on 08.04.2016]
06.2015) – 24 Vesti – Извештајот на Прибе пред Владата– [Accessed on 08.04.2016]
(24.06.2015) – Plus Info – Владата усвои план за реформи по извештајот на Прибе – – [Accessed on 08.04.2016]

Assessed by: Teo Blazhevski

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.