Zoran Zaev and the entire leadership of his DUI coalition partner all attended the opening of the offices for the new Ministry for political system and inter-community relations. The building that houses the department led by Zaev’s first deputy Artan Grubi is one of the Skopje 2014 buildings, built under the term of Nikola Gruevski, and as such was much derided and attacked precisely by Zaev.
The urban redevelopment plan had as its goal the celebration of Macedonian history and moving Skopje away from the concrete brutalism on the Communist era and replacing it with the neo-classical style. Opposing Skopje 2014 was one of the main policies of Zaev’s SDSM party, which declared it as an expensive and “baroque” project and Zaev personally threw paintballs on the Skopje 2014 buildings during his 2015 Colored Revolution.
The sight of him happily inaugurating one of the buildings left even some of his supporters in disbelief today.
For DUI, on the other hand, taking control of the buildings is a point of pride. Grubi, a former football hooligan leader, was involved in the ransacking of one of the most elaborate of thee buildings – the Macedonian National Theater – a year ago.
DUI did not miss an opportunity to show who is the boss in the new offices of Grubi’s department either. Their party leadership used the opportunity to hold a birthday party for DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, with a cake and making it “masks optional”. The department is being greatly expanded in power and influence under Grubi, as Zaev’s cling to power became completely dependent on Ahmeti’s party after the inconclusive 2020 elections. Grubi has de-facto power to veto the agenda of the ruling coalition, and now he has offices to match his role.
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