Every time a tender scandal breaks open, Macedonia watches the same picture. The opposition accuses the government of crime, the government hits back with data showing that the previous government did the same thing. And in the end, instead of accountability - we get a political score-settling.

The „Mastef” case has reopened exactly that question. SDSM accuses the company of having received dozens of tenders and millions of denars during VMRO-DPMNE's time. VMRO replies that the same company was winning tenders when SDSM was running municipalities.

And what have we actually got out of this? Instead of a denial - confirmation.

Confirmation that the pattern is the same. When one side is in power - the firms get the tenders. When the others arrive - the same firms keep working. Ministers, mayors, directors and party flags change, but the system stays untouched.

That opens a much bigger question: does Macedonia actually have real tender competition, or is there a closed circle of companies that operate regardless of who is in power?

Citizens are no longer interested in who is going to accuse whom. Citizens want answers:

• How few firms in reality take the bulk of public procurement?
• How many competitors did they have?
• Were the prices realistic?
• How many times did the same companies win?

Because if SDSM is showing today that this firm worked with VMRO, and VMRO is showing that the same firm worked with SDSM - then perhaps the biggest story isn't the firm.

The biggest story is that the two largest parties have been running on the same template for years - different rhetoric, the same pattern.

And perhaps that is exactly why trust in the system is at a historical low - because the people no longer see a fight against the system, only a fight over who gets to run that same system.