From Monday, lessons in every school in the Municipality of Gazi Baba will begin with the playing of the national anthem. The decision was taken by the municipal council and applies to every Monday.

"Parents welcome this decision, because the national anthem is one of our main symbols and emblems that represent the identity, history and sovereignty of a state. I think it is a correct decision that we took at the council session," said mayor Boban Stefkovski.

The row that came before the decision

A week ago, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski was asked whether, after the Gazi Baba decision, it would be acceptable for municipalities with a majority Albanian population to request the playing of the Albanian anthem.

"It is the state anthem. Regardless of ethnicity, we are citizens of this country and we should respect the symbols of this country," he replied, adding that respect for the state anthem is established by the Constitution and should not depend on ethnicity, but also that the national symbols of ethnic communities should be respected.

Mickoski said he was "astounded" that playing the national anthem should become the subject of such a row at all.

What will be clear in a few Mondays

The decision was taken at municipal level, for municipal schools. Which means the state has no uniform rule - it has as many rules as there are councillors willing to vote for them.

Gazi Baba is not the first - Stefkovski is introducing this after Mucunski. If it carries on like this, in a few months we will have a map of Skopje on which one child sings the anthem every Monday and another, in the neighbouring municipality, never sings it at all - not because of anyone's policy, but because of which part of the city their parents live in.

The anthem is a matter of state, established by the Constitution. The decision on it was taken at a municipal council session. That mismatch is the real story here, and no party resolves it with a press release.