Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski caused outrage yesterday when he labelled a critical journalist as nationalist and fascist – in an attempt to dismiss a pointed question. Kovacevski was confronted by journalist Mateja Petrovski, from Alfa TV, who asked him if it’s possible that the DUI party, whose influence skyrocketed in past years, now formally takes over all three key positions in the country.

Macedonia heads to presidential and general elections next year, and it’s possible that Speaker Talat Xhaferi, former Albanian UCK terrorist commander, is named interim President. Xhaferi could hold this position for a longer period of time if the presidential elections are declared invalid, which is a possibility under Kovacevski’s insistence that the two elections are held separately. DUI already has veto power over key Government decisions through the recently created position of First Deputy Prime Minister – where DUI leader Ali Ahmeti elevated his key confidant Artan Grubi. Grubi was in position to negotiate a huge infrastructure deal with the US giant Bechtel, which will determine Macedonia’s infrastructure spending in the medium future and opened enormous possibilities for corruption for companies linked to DUI. DUI also holds two key Government departments – Finance and Foreign Affairs – which are never or extremely rarely held by ethnic Albanians, leading to large expansion of hiring of ethnic Albanians in the public sector and determining the course of the negotiations with Bulgaria over the ethnic identity of the Macedonians. This has led to growing tensions between Macedonians and Albanians.

Meanwhile, Kovacevski’s SDSM party has promised to DUI that they will name an ethnic Albanian – presumably from DUI – as Prime Minister for the 100 days before the elections. This would unite the three key state positions – President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament – in the hands of DUI – a thoroughly corrupt party born out of the NLA/UCK terrorist movement representing the Albanian minority in Macedonia. During their Colored Revolution SDSM has insisted that DUI is a corrupt menace to democracy and that party officials will be investigated for serious crimes and will lose their stranglehold on Albanian politics in Macedonia, which they maintain will state capture. But once in power, as they quickly lost support among ethnic Macedonians, SDSM was forced to give more and more concessions to DUI in order to remain in power, and the party has taken over key Government departments to the point that now half of the seats in Government are held by ethnic Albanians (projected to be between 25 and 30 percent of the population according to the censuses).

Are you prepared for the option that, if the presidential elections fail and Talat Xhaferi becomes President, DUI also has a Prime Minister, and the entire country is in DUI hands?, Petrovski asked during a press conference.

Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Bytyqi – the only ethnic Albanian holding a top position through the SDSM party – walked out in protest after the question was asked.

Kovacevski did not address the question, but went on to attack the journalist. “The question is absolutely not acceptable. Today in our country we have the concept of European Macedonia led by the Governemnt and SDSM. We treat all citizens equally, according to their ethnic, religious and any other belonging. But we have the appearance of a populism which, in its basis, has ethno-nationalism and xenopobia, which for me is a form of modern fascism”, Kovacevski replied.

The Macedonian Association of Journalists strongly condemned Kovacevski for his remarks and asked that state prosecutors investigate him for slander and hate speech aimed at the press. “Authorities need to be especially restrained when making statements that could be seen as hate speech or speech that could incite to hatred. This is not the first time that Prime Minister Kovacevski issues serious slander when responding to journalists and calls on the journalists to be punished. He called on the prosecutors to go after journalist Dragan Pavlovik – Latas, threatened Mateja Petrovski through his security detail, accused a media outlet of having their editorial policy driven by the energy business and by political parties. At almost all of his public appearances, Kovacevski responds to journalist questions with counter-questions and interrogates the journalists about the outlet that sent them. Journalists Ljupco Zlatev and Predrag Kukic were banned from reporting from his events, which are just two out of countless examples”, the union of journalists said, warning that this behavior from the Government leads toward censorship and could lead to violence.

The Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services – Macedonia’s media regulator – also condemned Kovacevski’s behavior. “The media are one of the key pillars of democracy and have an important role in the creation of critical public opinion, and on reporting on issues of public interest. Therefore, the must not be a style of communication that is inappropriate and insulting toward the journalists, and through them, toward the entire public. Holders of public office should put in full efforts to respond to all press questions that are in the public interest, and at the same time – to show respect toward the journalist profession and the dignity of media workers”, AVMU said in a statement.