Macedonian National Grid between sale and protests The government and the opposition at the end of the spectrum, in the middle – the people   The sale of the Macedonian National Grid has been a central topic in the Macedonian public for months. The Government claims that only the distribution part is on sale, but the opposition says that it is about a complete sale of the Macedonian National Grid. Protests, blockades, tribunes, citizens’ fear of drastic price increase of electricity, are phenomena that follow this privatization, and it is a fact that this is a case the most attention has been given to since companies’ privatization in the last fifteen years in our country. Central topic about the sale of the Macedonian National Grid is the transparency, whether the government has completely expressed its intentions, what the price is? On the other hand, there is the opposition that warns that the sale of the Macedonian National Grid in such way is harmful, but the Government reminds that when the opposition was in power in 2002, the then heads were ready to sell the Macedonian National Grid even with immediate agreement. However, the fact remains that the present government does not want to reveal the contents of the sales contract that it will sign with the future owner of the “Distribution”, as well as the price it would be pleased with, but it is ready to make certain deviations in the document but it does not say how important it is. Does the government have hidden intentions or the opposition is trying to make confusions at citizens? And this is all happening just a few months before the elections, so that the ordinary citizens, to whom the most important is eventually the price of electricity, after each statement of the government or the opposition, remain confused. In the meantime the citizens of Skopje are dealing with blockades organized by the non-governmental organization “Glas za svetlina”, which every day blocks the road arteries of the capital city as a protest against the sale of the Macedonian National Grid – more precisely, the way it is being sold. Some citizens support these protests, some are fed up with blockades and think that nothing can be solved in such a way and the questions that are still in the air are how transparent the privatization process of the Macedonian National Grid is, where will the money from the sale be invested, what bills will we receive after the sale? The questions are bombastic and in the meantime there was a bomb planted and a real explosion in front of the Macedonian National Grid’s building. The story about the sale of the Macedonian National Grid continues, but no one knows its direction, so we can only hope that it will not take us to complete darkness.   Government and opposition – as always, two extremes “The process of privatization of the Macedonian National Grid is the most transparent process of privatization in the Republic of Macedonia. This government has carried out the necessary transformation of the Macedonian National Grid and has shown virtue, accepting the opinion of the domestic public and experts for changing the model of privatization…Other segments that need to be more explained are the issues on monopoly and price of the electricity. According to no logic there is a risk of a natural monopoly, because there is the Regulatory commission, as in every other country. Apart from that, by forming an energetic community of Southeastern Europe, big consumers will have an opportunity to choose whether they will buy electricity from here or abroad and in a few years there will be some other distribution system operators established. As far as the price of electricity is concerned, I have to point out that it is not a part of the privatization of the Macedonian National Grid at all”, wrote the Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski in his column “Double standard high voltage” in the daily newspaper “Utrinski vesnik” issue 11/12 February 2006. In the same issue of “Utrinski vesnik” in the parallel column “Non-transparent transparency” for the sale of the Macedonian National Grid, the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Nikola Gruevski, writes: “When the biggest company in Macedonia is being sold, a state company, plus a monopoly, we have to ask the question why it is sold. There are two answers to this question, spread by the government. The first answer is that we have a very low payment of electricity and the second one is that money for investments is necessary…The second reason is more tragic-comical. Namely, the money from the sale of the Macedonian National Grid will directly go to foreign currency reserves and none will be used for investments for development of the Macedonian National Grid, nor in investments for development of the country, its infrastructure etc (railways, roads, water supply systems, schools…). An ordinary Macedonian citizen has almost no official information by the Government about what is happening in this sector and how it will affect his everyday life and the country’s economy…”   Between protests, fear and support For the time being the citizens of Skopje feel only the blockades, they adjust their time of going home and going to and coming back from work according to the announced protests, they look for the temporary bus stops, many of them are nervous. “I don’t think that anything could be done with blockades. There is only chaos in traffic, people are exhausted, they are fed up with stories, if the Government is up to something and they will do it. We can’t do anything here and yet someone is blocking the chaotic traffic in Skopje”, says Slavica S., a middle-aged woman from Skopje whom we met during the blockades “Voice of light” while she was trying to find out the new route of the bus that drives to the place where she lives. “I think that everyone is afraid of the sale of the Macedonian National Grid, more precisely the new price of electricity. We can make it without a phone, but what would you do without electricity or how would you pay high bills with a salary of barely 200 Euro that is not regular and what about retired people whose pension is not even 100 Euro. It is true that now there is chaos in the traffic because of the protests, but can you imagine the chaos when Skopje will be in darkness because only the chosen ones would be able to pay the electricity bill and all the others will sink in darkness. Yes, I would join the ones who are protesting, but I am not ready to risk. I can neither go out of work, nor I want someone to take a picture of me and then blackmail me, as it has happened to some people”, expresses her opinion a forty-year old clerk Vesna, who neither wants to be taken a picture of, nor wants to say her surname. At one end of the spectrum is the government, at the other is the opposition, and between them are citizens and non-governmental organizations, experts’ opinions. “We have expressed our remarks concerning the sale of the bloodstream of our country, that is the Macedonian National Grid – Distribution so many times”, says Romeo Josifoski from the non-governmental organization “Glas za svetlina”. “Firstly, we think that this privatization process will cause a great economic shock that will be mostly felt by the citizens of Macedonia and the Macedonian economy. In our opinion, the privatization process will create a private monopoly, thus increasing the price of electricity, not taking into consideration the economic situation of this country’s citizens at the moment. We think that the privatization process is being carried out too fast, that is, laws are rushed through the parliament and it is not known if they will function in practice. Among other things, the overall experts’ public, both from the field of power supply and economy, persistently tell the government about the consequences that citizens would suffer after the privatization of the Macedonian National Grid – Distribution. The government’s justification that the Macedonian National Grid is being privatized as a result of the low payment of bills is not logical. Why don’t they change the managerial team of the company and the problem of payment would be solved”, points out Josifoski. When asked why the members of “Glas za svetlina” decided about blockades, Josifoski says that they have tried everything to express their revolt against the government’s decision, and one of the instruments is blockades. The blockades have made the government nervous and it was expressed in the statement of the Minister of Finance, Nikola Popovski, who stated that the price of the Macedonian National Grid would decrease due to the protests and blockades, but Josifoski considers this statement to be a gaffe and he does not want to comment on it. (In one of his statements Popovski has stated that the price will not be lower than 80 to 100 million Euros). In spite of the fact that “Glas za svetlina” is a non-governmental organization, there is an impression that the non-governmental sector does not completely stand by this non-governmental organization, but Josifoski negates this, saying that they have been supported by a lot of organizations from the non-governmental sector and many of them have signed their common declaration against the sale of the Macedonian National Grid. “We are pleased with the protests’ mass and we think they would be even bigger if the government did not take photos of number plates of cars of those who are protesting and if they did not put constant pressures. As far as the fact is concerned that they relate us with a certain party, it is nothing new. We have been related to intelligence services, so why not being related to governmental or oppositional parties. After all, this is a year of elections and it is to be expected” – he says.   The Macedonian saga continues The government thinks that the long-lasting protests of the “Glas za svetlina” are entering a completely different phase, so in their opinion with the blockades they breach the old and amended Law on public gatherings, so criminal accountability will be demanded for this non-governmental organization. However, the members of this civil society organization think that all gatherings have been carried out in accordance with the Law, so there is no basis for criminal charges. The protests of “Glas za svetlina” stop neither on 17th February when the Euro-representatives Oli Ren and Jose Manuel Baroso arrived in Skopje.    The people who were protesting sent a letter to the Euro-representatives where they explained that the protest was not directed against them, but against the sale of the Macedonian National Grid – Distribution. After all this, an announcement arrived from the companies interested in the tender for the sale of the Macedonian National Grid that they would like the deadline for submitting offers to be prolonged by two weeks. Have they changed their minds, are they collecting documentation or it is about something else? The Macedonian saga of the sale of the Macedonian National Grid continues…It remains to be seen whether we will be lit up by the European sun or we will sink in the Balkans darkness!