Two months ago Arben Fetai resigned as deputy prime minister, after questions surfaced publicly about his long absences from work. Yesterday he announced that by government decision he has been appointed Macedonia's special envoy to the European Union, based in Brussels.

„A new chapter in the service of the country's European integration,” he wrote. An honour, but also a great responsibility. The road to Brussels continues, with determination and partnership.

The question Osmani asked out loud

Deputy leader of the DUI and former foreign minister Bujar Osmani did not go after the person, he went after the post. Macedonia already has a Permanent Mission in Brussels - with an ambassador and dozens of diplomats.

His question is direct: what is this new representative's mandate, what task will he perform that cannot be completed by the ambassador, the Mission, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry for European Affairs? In his view, creating a parallel channel weakens state diplomacy and blurs who exactly represents the country before EU institutions.

That is a question no statement has answered so far. And the answer matters - not because of Fetai, but because diplomacy either speaks with one voice or it does not work.

The opposition reacts

The LDP called the appointment shameful and scandalous, describing it as „a reward for irresponsibility”. Levica argues that in a country where citizens are fighting over the minimum wage, the government is building a political caste of privileged individuals, and recalled that while he was deputy prime minister, Fetai went months without showing up for work while continuing to draw a salary.

The government says the appointment followed legal procedure and that the aim is to speed up European integration.

The signal towards Brussels

The legality of the move is not in dispute - the government has the right to appoint special envoys. What is in dispute is something else: the message.

When a man who left an executive post over absence from work returns with a diplomatic post in Brussels, that is a message both to the public at home and to the institutions Macedonia is asking to join. Institutions whose reports regularly use the word „merit” when they talk about public administration.

If the new envoy's mandate really is different from that of the Permanent Mission, the government has a simple job in front of it: explain it. With a document, not a press release.