Deputy Prime Minister for Good Governance Arben Fetai is sending greetings from Thailand. Photos from Bangkok, Phuket, maybe Chiang Mai - there is no clear source for that yet, but it is obvious he has not been at a cabinet session in a while. According to several reports, he has been absent for more than a month.

If it were not ironic, it would just be a scandal. A minister for good governance is enjoying Thailand while Macedonia struggles with a deflated presence in the European process. The PM is reportedly preparing him to become a special envoy in Brussels. And he is wandering around Asia.

Deputy Prime Minister is a serious-sounding title. Good governance is a serious-sounding topic. Reward for the work - a three-month break in Thailand. That is the level of seriousness of this government at this stage of its term. And no one expects a written explanation - not from the PM, not from Fetai himself.

Why would we expect one? It is a specifically Balkan phenomenon - an official disappears, the media report it, nobody answers anything. After two weeks the story is forgotten, and the official returns as if nothing happened. The history of our government terms is made up of hundreds of such episodes.

The question to ask is simpler: who is Fetai actually serving? Not his party (VLEN), since he is creating a scandal for them. Not the government, since he is absent at a crucial moment. Not the state - obviously. Then who? And why does neither the PM nor his party colleagues respond?

Maybe because Arben Fetai knows something. Maybe because his silence is worth more than his presence. That is speculation - but in a country where everyone has their own photos from Thailand (metaphorically or literally), silence at the top is never accidental.