On 9 May, while leaders from half the continent gathered for diplomatic events to mark Europe Day, in Kočani the 42nd March for the Angels took place. 42 times. Forty-two times the parents of the victims of the „Puls" tragedy have had to march to be heard. And that is the greatest shame Macedonia carries into 9 May.

The march set off from Revolution Park and ended at the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office. It paused in front of the police station. That matters - not only symbolically, but as a demand for accountability from officers who failed to intervene when the pyrotechnics ignited, and who failed to assist with the evacuation of a nightclub with 63 fatalities.

„There is no European future without justice. There is no dignity in a state where parents have to march to be heard," said Marija Patruševa from the families. One sentence. The translation across 14 decades of historical signage: in a country seeking EU membership, parents have to march 42 times for justice. The question is whether Brussels is registering all this.

Tomče Stojanov, father of one of the children, spares no words for either side: „First they went on holiday. Now we see we've been manipulated. Nothing substantive has come out of everything that was said and promised." And further: „The money, the bribery and the corruption - we live this hell every day. Someone sentenced our children to death."

The parliamentary inquiry commission led by Dimitar Apasiev (Levica) is blocked. VMRO-DPMNE refuses to nominate members until conclusions from the previous session are adopted. SDSM is waiting for official documentation. Health minister Venko Filipče is waiting for a letter from the Speaker. Everyone is waiting. Only the parents are not waiting - they're marching.

For anyone in Skopje who looks at Kočani and says „it's far away, that's another problem": Kočani is every one of our cities. Tomorrow it could be Skopje. The day after - Bitola. And if institutions get blocked on the largest tragedy involving children, what happens when the next one hits? The question isn't in the future. The question is now. What's blocking Parliament isn't procedure. It's fear of accountability. And the memory of those 63 names has to be greater than politicians' fear.