SDSM attacks Mickoski's speech: EU commissioner Kos didn't even mention Macedonia this week

Speaking at the ceremonial academy for October 23, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said Macedonia should keep moving towards the European Union wisely and patiently, despite the long wait, the bilateral disputes and what he called obstacles from the eastern neighbour. He added that he would not give in to provocations and pressure, and that he doesn't deal with "bones from the past" but with the future of our children.

SDSM replied with a list. This week, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos spoke about the Balkans' European future: she placed Montenegro on the threshold of the final phase, urged Albania to keep up the pace of reforms, named the elections as key for Serbia, and called on Kosovo to respect international law. "Macedonia wasn't mentioned," the Social Democrats say.

"Protecting identity isn't measured by a speech. It's measured by whether the country moves forward or stands still," the opposition says. In their view, the condition remains the same - reforms and cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office before membership, which "is not a bilateral issue but a European condition."

SDSM accuses the prime minister of reforms he promised by June 1 and didn't deliver, of a budget being filled with new loans to pay off old ones, and of "justice by telephone." The statement ends with a pun: if all we do is wait and dig up bones, "the only bones left will be the ones on the dinner table."

Both sides, each in its own way, hold part of the truth. That Macedonia went unmentioned in the commissioner's messages is a fact, but not a verdict. The prime minister talking about patience is a legitimate position, but Macedonia has been hearing about patience with no deadline ever since 2005, when it became a candidate for membership. That citizens are exhausted by the waiting is at least something the government and the opposition agree on.

The question that remains is a simple one: is Brussels silent because it has nothing to say about Macedonia, or because Skopje has nothing to show it? The answer won't come from a speech at an academy or an opposition press release - it will come in the next progress report.