Why people are protesting in Macedonia?
The recent rally of people in Macedonia protesting against the current Government could be interoperated in a Macro and Micro level.
On the one hand, Russia (Gazprom) is planning to build the South Stream Pipeline passing via Macedonia to deliver Gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine.
Since the EU already opposed the South Stream original plan to pass toward Bulgaria lobbying the Bulgarian government to withdraw from the project, Russia perceives the recent appraisal in Macedonia as the umpteenth Western interference in the Balkans to reduce Russian energy hegemony in Europe.
On the other hand, the Micro reasons for the protest may be found in the inherent tension between ethnics groups in the Region (Albanian, Serbs, Greek, Turkish…). Indeed, in the1991 the conflict with Albania almost generated an internal civil war.
All in all, the underground roots of these protests may be grounded on a combination of both the Macro and Micro circumstances.
