North Macedonia is marking 35 years today, September 8, since the referendum in which its citizens confirmed independence from the former Yugoslavia. For Belgrade, the anniversary is more than a neighborly formality: Skopje and Belgrade set out from that same 1991 on separate paths toward their own statehood, and both capitals are now candidates for European Union membership, moving through the same regional process toward Brussels. The day in Skopje is split in two, a state ceremony running through the morning and afternoon and a mass concert in the evening, so the jubilee is being marked both as an occasion of state and as a street celebration.
The September 8, 1991 referendum, according to the official announcement of this year’s commemoration, produced a clear decision by citizens. “On September 8, 1991, the citizens of Macedonia confirmed their will for a sovereign and independent state at the referendum, by an overwhelming majority,” the announcement of the celebration states. That vote opened the way to building the country’s own institutions, diplomatic network, security system and economic policy, outside the Yugoslav federation that was disintegrating at the time.
The day opened with protocol. President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova laid flowers this morning at the graves of three men who defined the young state’s first years: its first president, Kiro Gligorov, his successor Boris Trajkovski, and its first prime minister, Nikola Kljusev. The gesture is a routine part of every September 8, but this year it carries a round anniversary.