The Council of the Municipality of Struga has adopted a decision allowing hospitality venues to stay open one hour beyond the legal limit during the summer, and two hours longer over the extended holiday weekend.

Specifically: at weekends and during public events, cafés and restaurants will close at 2am instead of 1am. On 1, 2 and 3 August, hours are extended to 3am. The one-hour extension also applies on 26, 27 and 28 July, then on 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, 26, 28 and 29 August, on 8 and 28 September, 11 and 23 October, 1, 8 and 22 November, and on 21 and 25 December.

Twenty-one dates, written out one by one in a municipal decision. That is not a seasonal measure - that is most of a calendar year, broken up into individual days so it can be presented as an exception.

The stated aim is the smooth running of planned events, support for the tourist season and the local economy. The municipal press office says Struga continues to create conditions for the development of tourism, hospitality and cultural life, while respecting the law and the interests of citizens.

The interests of citizens is the phrase worth pausing on. Because in every Balkan town with a nightlife strip there are two groups of citizens with directly opposing interests - the ones who earn from the venue and the ones who live above it. The first group got its hour. Whether the second was asked, the statement does not say.

And then the practical question: who is going to enforce this. Extended hours only mean something if the decision still holds at 3:01. If it does not, then nobody extended anything - they just legalised what was already happening.