The fractured ‘we’ and the ethno-national ‘I’: the Macedonian citizenship framework

Abstract

This article discusses some of the salient features of the post-2001 Macedonian citizenship model, understood not only as a legal formula, but also as a social and cultural fact (Brubaker, R., 1994. Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge/London: Harvard University Press). By using the analytical lens of two competing conceptions of nationhood and citizenship (political vs. ethno-cultural), the article analyses the phenomenon of ‘fractured citizenship’, as reflected in the apparent tension between an official, elite-driven discourse of the Macedonian model of multi-ethnic democracy on the one hand, and diverging ethno-culturally coded initiatives, ideologies and perceptions, on the other. The article concludes that in the future the fractures will either ‘heal’ through a weakening of the ethnic dimension, or progress towards a new form of fragmented citizenship.

Keywords:

• Macedonia
• citizenship
• nationhood
• ethnicity
• discourse

Acknowledgements

The financial support of the European Research Council (CITSEE, ERC 230239) in the preparation of this special issue is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

 1. The amended Preamble to the Macedonian Constitution now reads: ‘The citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian people, as well as citizens living within its borders who are part of the Albanian people, the Turkish people, the Vlach people, the Serbian people, the Romany people, the Bosniak people and others …’.

 2. This includes a double majority – the so-called ‘Badinter majority’ voting system. It requires both a parliamentary majority and a majority among Albanian and other non-majority MPs, for laws that directly concern the culture, use of language, education, personal documentation and symbols.

 3. As far as minority rights provisions are concerned, art. 7 of the first Macedonian post-Yugoslav Constitution established that ‘in the units of local self-government where the majority of the inhabitants belong to a nationality, in addition to the Macedonian language and Cyrillic alphabet, their language and alphabet are also in official use, in a manner determined by law’. ‘Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia’, Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. Available from: http://www.sobranie.mk/en/default-en.asp?ItemID = 9F7452BF44EE814B8DB897C1858B71FF.

 4. ‘Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia’, Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. Available from: http://www.sobranie.mk/en/default-en.asp?ItemID = 9F7452BF44EE814B8DB897C1858B71FF.

 5. 20% [Law for advancement and protection of the rights of the members of communities smaller than 20% of the population of the Republic of Macedonia], [Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia], 92/2008.

 6. Recently the Constitution was amended to lower the threshold from 50% to 40% for voter turnout in the second round of presidential elections. This indicates a more general trend both in parliamentary and in presidential elections of relatively low turnouts and protest non-voting. It has been rightfully argued that it is perceived that ‘elections produce more politicians, already seen as parasites, and more talk’ (Pippidi and Krastev 2004, p. 273).

 7. [Law for changing and amending the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia], [Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia], 08/2004. The enactment of the amendments to the Law on Citizenship was not accompanied by a public debate since during the same period (January–February 2004) the public was engaged in other identity-related issues which came as a result of the Ohrid Framework Agreement: the opening of an Albanian-language state university in Tetovo and the new territorial organisation which redrew municipal borders and for which a referendum was organised. In addition, only few days after the publication of the Law, Macedonia's President was tragically killed in a plane crash.

 8. The 1992 Law on Citizenship [Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia], 67/92), for the ordinary naturalisation procedure established a requirement of proficiency in the Macedonian language, which was determined by oral examination before a governmental commission of three language experts. See Petruševska (1998).

 9. It established that this category of individuals ‘may acquire citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia if within two years after the entry into force of this law they have submitted an application, provided that no criminal proceedings are being carried out against them in the Republic of Macedonia, for criminal acts which threaten the security and defence of the Republic’.

10. Number of cases of statelessness reported after the transitional period for former Yugoslav citizens expired in November 1993 were 2130. In December 2004, to facilitate the procedure and avoid the initial mistake of not properly informing potential applicants, the Macedonian Government in coordination with the UNHCR launched a big information campaign. The media was used and explanatory brochures printed in the Roma and Albanian languages explained the citizenship application procedure in simpler terms. From 2004 to 2009, 4984 long-term habitual residents were granted Macedonian citizenship under the transitional provision for former Yugoslav citizens (Imeri 2006, UNHCR 2009).

11. In August 2009, the MPs of the oppositional Albanian DPA/PDSh left Parliament and have not participated in any of the Parliamentary sessions, without any consequences and despite of the calls for return by the President of Parliament. It should be noted that the Parliament was boycotted again in January 2011, this time by the trans-ethnic oppositional block concerned with media freedom. The social democrats, the new social democrats, the liberals and the Albanian New Democracy party all left Parliament in sign of revolt to the alleged involvement of the Government in the issuing of a court decision for freezing of the accounts of TV channel A1 and three other newspapers from the same media group.

12. Moreover, corruption being one of the main problems pointed out by external observers and in progress reports, it has been repeatedly detected in the ‘scandal-ridden system of party finance’ (Irwin 2010), which is set to improve with the recent amendments to the Law on Financing of Political Parties enhancing the transparency of donations.

13. A former Minister of Health who holds both Macedonian and Bulgarian citizenship and was sought by Macedonian authorities for criminal charges managed to escape extradition to Macedonia from Poland because of his Bulgarian citizenship. Similarly, a woman who held double Macedonian–Bulgarian citizenship and who was imprisoned for violating certain provisions of family law caused a diplomatic scandal and an intervention by the Bulgarian President asking for her release claiming she was criminally prosecuted because of her alleged Bulgarian identity. Most notably however, the former Macedonian PM, Ljubco Georgievski, acquired Bulgarian citizenship as well.

14. Interview with Mr Gjorgji Donevski, President of the Association of Children-Refugees from Aegean Macedonia (May 2010).

15. ‘The Former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia’, European Commission: Enlargement. Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/candidate-countries/the_former_yugoslav_republic_of_macedonia/financial-assistance/index_en.htm [Accessed 1 June 2010].

16. Increasing numbers of asylum applications from Macedonia and Serbia have been a serious concern for Brussels and therefore the response was to introduce a ‘post-visa liberalisation monitoring mechanism’, which would be activated in ‘extraordinary circumstances to temporarily stop the visa free regime’. Moreover, the Macedonian Government is envisioning amendments of the Penal Code which would establish legal sanctions for companies or individuals which engage in illegal migration. See ‘Escaping the Balkans? After Visa Liberalisation’, CITSEE.eu Blog. Available from: http://www.citsee.eu/blog/escaping-balkans-after-visa-liberalisation [accessed 12 May 2011].

17. A recent example is provided by the opening of a new border-crossing in the spring of 2011 in the mountainous region between the north-east of Macedonia and south Serbia. After 20 years of hampered mobility, cut-off family and business ties, the people from the Kriva Palanka–Bosilegrad region are once again able to work their land situated on either side of the border, to shop and do business in the neighbouring country. The border villages on Serbian territory are geographically closer to the town of Kriva Palanka in Macedonia than to the town of Bosilegrad in Serbia.

18. See Deželan (in this issue). ‘Around 100,000 individuals got Hungarian citizenship abroad as an effect of the Citizenship Law approved in 2010’, European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship. Available from: http://eudo-citizenship.eu/citizenship-news/484-around-100000-individuals-got-hungarian-citizenship-abroad-by-descent-as-an-effect-of-the-citizenship-law-approved-in-2010-. For more detailed analyses see the relevant Country Reports. Available from: http://eudo-citizenship.eu/country-profiles.