BRUSSELS' DOWNFALL: EU policy toppled Zaev and opened the door for 'Orbanists', what does this mean for BiH?

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

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Zoran Zaev could have foreseen his departure in 2019. He spoke about it publicly, the European Union made a historic mistake then with its decision, first they confirmed that North Macedonia had met all the conditions, and in the end, they said they needed time!

“Great disappointment. This mistake has disappointed me and our citizens. It has even produced frustration and anger,” Zaev said at the time.

And now the citizens of North Macedonia have sent the bill to the European Union, we have seen the return of Balkan politics from the nineties. Zaev is collateral damage of the lukewarm policy of the European Union. And he gave so much to his country and to the EU itself.

The entire Western Balkans has no alternative but the EU, it is an island within the EU, everything around us is the EU, and where should we go, to heaven, Zaev has been asking for years.

“We must join the EU because we want to, because of European values and the life we want to provide for our citizens, just like EU citizens have,” Zaev emphasized.

The nationalist and largest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE fell in 2016 due to numerous corruption scandals. Its former leader Nikola Gruevski, who was prime minister for ten years, fled to Hungary to avoid a prison sentence, and received protection from Viktor Orbán, but that party has returned to local government in North Macedonia. They owe a big THANK YOU to the controversial decisions of the European Union.

But today, we have Zaev's defeat, but also the defeat of the European Union. In this context, things in Bosnia and Herzegovina should also be considered.

The spirit of Zoran Zaev and North Macedonia was desired for the region, and especially for Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to its multi-ethnic character. In the last elections in BiH in 2018, the 'Bosnian Zaev' was sought.

Does the EU truly want a multi-ethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the goal really to strengthen democratic society or ethno-national enclaves in the sense of an unfavorable electoral reform that would appease Dragan Čović!

Zaev's fall is being closely watched by parties in BiH, especially those on the left, who are rightly asking, albeit still in whispers, is the fight for a European state paid for with election losses!?
It is now evident that Brussels has no answer to the problems within the member states and simply did not count on the possibility of Orbán's option ending up on the winner's throne in the North Macedonian elections.

The behavior in BiH is similar, so the warning from academician Esad Duraković should be an alarm for BiH forces.

“The only one I trust, and God knows best what the future will be, is the USA,” stated academician Duraković.

Skopje analyst Suad Misini told Al Jazeera that Zaev's fall will, at the very least, fuel anti-European sentiment with the argument that it is not worth investing trust and expectations in the European Union.

“This is a potentially very big blow to the credibility and future efforts of the EU to help the countries of the region in their European perspectives,” says Misini.

After the winter of discontent comes the spring of patriotism. This is the leading narrative among the gathered right-wing parties who believe that the European Union is nearing its end – from the economic and refugee crises to its final collapse, and the policies of the EU and official Brussels are becoming softer in the hands of those who do not wish the EU well. Visions of a new Europe, where the laws of sovereign states would prevail and where local culture would be untouched, are being heard more and more loudly, and are being realized, which greatly complicates the position of both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire Western Balkans.