First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi met with the Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic yesterday. The meeting of the two ethnic Albanian deputy heads of Government was lauded as “brotherly” by Grubi, who is using his newly elevated position to assert near veto powers in the Zaev Government.

Nationalist feelings were on display as Grubi awarded Abazovic with a “keche” – a skull cap traditionally worn by Albanians. The popularity of the keche has dropped in Macedonia, especially in the urban areas, and few Albanian politicians have a more urban image than Abazovic, so the image seemed somewhat out of place. Grubi, a nationalist politician with a track record of hooliganism and violence who has been rising in the DUI party ranks owing to support from the diplomatic corps in Skopje, also awarded a keche to outgoing EU Ambassador Samuel Zbogar – who is married to an ethnic Albanian.