Bonum Certa Men Certa

An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part V: Sharing Out the Spoils of Public Office

Series index:

  1. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé -- Part I: A New EPO Balkan Affair?
  2. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part II: A Mysterious Fist-Bumping Masquerade in Skopje
  3. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part III: A Longtime Associate of the Doyen
  4. An EPO Administrative Council Exposé — Part IV: A Party Political Animal
  5. You are here ☞ Sharing Out the Spoils of Public Office


Safet Emruli for Albania
SOIP Director Safet Emruli waves the Albanian flag at a DUI rally.



Summary: "There can be little doubt that Safet Emruli's appointment as head of the SOIP and subsequent reappointment in 2018 were significantly influenced by party political considerations."

In the last part we examined the political connections of Safet Emruli, the former Director of the North Macedonian State Office for Intellectual Property (SOIP).



In particular, we noted his affiliation with the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) - in Albanian: Bashkimi Demokratik për Integrim (BDI) - which was established in June 2002 under the leadership of the former NLA guerrilla leader, Ali Ahmeti.

It's clear that Emruli makes no secret of his DUI affiliation and that he wears his political colours on his sleeve.

"It's clear that Emruli makes no secret of his DUI affiliation and that he wears his political colours on his sleeve."In this part we intend to look at how his professional career has benefited from his connections with that party.

Since it was established in June 2002, the DUI has managed to overtake its main rival for the ethnic Albanian vote, the more conservative Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) which was established in 1994.

The DUI is now the largest ethnic Albanian party in North Macedonia and it has typically managed to attract somewhere between a 10% to 14% share of the overall vote.

"The DUI is now the largest ethnic Albanian party in North Macedonia and it has typically managed to attract somewhere between a 10% to 14% share of the overall vote."Its worst showing was in 2006 when its share of the vote fell to 7.5% because of its participation in the controversial administration led by Nikola Gruevski of the nationalist-conservative VMRO-DPMNE. But by 2020, it had bounced back to 11.48%.

Since its formation in June 2002, the party has managed to participate in no less than 6 out of 7 administrations (as a junior coalition partner) and has only been in opposition once for a relatively brief period between 2006 and 2008.

DUI participation
Since its formation in 2002, the DUI has participated in 6 out of 7 administrations. (Source: Wikipedia)



The DUI's strategic role as a parliamentary "kingmaker", has ensured that the it gets its fair share of ministerial positions at the cabinet table along with a generous quota of senior civil service appointments. These civil service appointments come in the form of "Directorships" of various government agencies associated with the ministries.

"...the DUI normally gets to determine who is in charge of the SOIP and, thus, who represents North Macedonia on the Administrative Council of the EPO."It's worth mentioning at this point that in most, if not all, of the coalition arrangements to date the DUI has been allocated control of the Ministry for Economic Affairs which is responsible for supervising the State Office of Intellectual Property (SOIP).

In other words, the DUI normally gets to determine who is in charge of the SOIP and, thus, who represents North Macedonia on the Administrative Council of the EPO.

Following the failure of negotiations with the dominant nationalist-conservative VMRO-DPMNE in 2006, the DUI was dumped as a coalition partner in favour of the DPA, its main rival in the ethnic Albanian camp.

DUI's Fatmir Besimi
DUI politician Fatmir Besimi responsible for Emruli's installation as head of the SOIP in 2008.



But, after a brief spell in opposition, the DUI was back in business with the VMRO-DPMNE in the wake of a early general election held in 2008. In the coalition administration formed in 2008, the DUI politician, Fatmir Besimi, was placed in charge of the Ministry for Economic Affairs.

On Besimi's recommendation, Safet Emruli was awarded the position of SOIP Director in August 2008. [PDF]

"The political crisis was initially set in motion by corruption allegations against VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski and his coalition partners, including the DUI."Prior to that Emruli had held a junior academic teaching position in the Faculty of Law at the State University of Tetovo. We will return to Emruli's links to the State University of Tetovo in due course, but for the moment we want to focus our attention on his DUI connections and their relevance in the wider context of the overall political landscape in North Macedonia.

During the period between 2015 and early 2017 the country was shaken by successive waves of political turbulence which had their origin in a bitter domestic power struggle between the nationalist-conservative VMRO-DPMNE and the social-democratic SDSM.

The political crisis was initially set in motion by corruption allegations against VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski and his coalition partners, including the DUI. The allegations of corruption raised by the SDSM were followed by allegations of illegal mass surveillance of political opponents and wide scale public protests.

"Following a general election in December 2016, Gruevski and his allies were accused of obstructing the formation of a new government, in order to avoid losing power and facing prosecution for corruption."The deteriorating political situation led to an intervention by the EU and the installation of a caretaker government with representatives from both the VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM.

Following a general election in December 2016, Gruevski and his allies were accused of obstructing the formation of a new government, in order to avoid losing power and facing prosecution for corruption.

Macedonia's Gruevski
Macedonia's "Capitol Hill" moment in April 2017 when supporters of Gruevski stormed the parliament.



The crisis culminated with a "Capitol Hill" moment in April 2017 when supporters of Gruevski stormed the national parliament in Skopje in reaction to the election of Talat Xhaferi as the parliament's chairman.

"The actions of those who stormed the parliament in April 2017 appear to have been motivated by concerns about the increased Albanian influence over public affairs which they feared would result from the planned alliance between the SDSM and Albanian parties, including the DUI."Xhaferi, an ethnic Albanian affiliated with the DUI, had previously served as Defence Minister. He was a controversial figure for ethnic (Slav) Macedonians because in 2001 he had been a high-ranking officer in the Macedonian army stationed in Tetovo when he deserted to join the NLA guerrillas during the "Albanian insurgency". Under the terms of the Ohrid Agreement he was amnestied along with his comrades-in-arms in the NLA.

The actions of those who stormed the parliament in April 2017 appear to have been motivated by concerns about the increased Albanian influence over public affairs which they feared would result from the planned alliance between the SDSM and Albanian parties, including the DUI.

"As the SDSM's main coalition partner in the new administration, the DUI received a number of key cabinet positions in return for supporting Zaev..."In the end - and with the support of the DUI - Zoran Zaev of the SDSM, was confirmed as the new Prime Minister in May 2017 and things gradually began to settle down.

Back in 2015, Zaev had condemned the DUI for being as corrupt as the VMRO-DPMNE. But he was now reliant on their support to govern, so - as a matter of "political expediency" - all of his former reservations about the SDSM's new allies quickly disappeared.

As the SDSM's main coalition partner in the new administration, the DUI received a number of key cabinet positions in return for supporting Zaev, including the Ministry for Economic Affairs which this time was placed in the hands of Kresnik Bekteshi.

"There can be little doubt that Safet Emruli's appointment as head of the SOIP and subsequent reappointment in 2018 were significantly influenced by party political considerations."In February 2018 the new government announced the appointment of 25 "Directors" affiliated with the DUI. Some of these were fresh appointments and others were renewals of existing appointments.

On that occasion, Bekteshi, the DUI minister in charge of the SOIP, ensured that his party comrade's appointment as head of that agency was renewed.

Bekteshi and Topic in SOIP
EPO Vice-President Topić, a key enabler of Benoît Battistelli, cosying up to DUI Minister Bekteshi at a SOIP event in Skopje (October 2018).



There can be little doubt that Safet Emruli's appointment as head of the SOIP and subsequent reappointment in 2018 were significantly influenced by party political considerations. This kind of appointment occurs in many countries, and it certainly seems to be par for the course in North Macedonia.

"In the next part we will take a look at Emruli's academic record and his connections to universities in Macedonia and elsewhere."But even if the appointment may have been primarily a political one, it must be said in Emruli's defence that he can lay claim to a decent set of academic credentials and he has some kind of demonstrable track record as a legal scholar. So at least it can be argued that he had a credible level of qualification for a senior administrative position of this kind.

In the next part we will take a look at Emruli's academic record and his connections to universities in Macedonia and elsewhere.

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights
What Scares Them the Most is Independent News Sites That They Cannot Control and Censor
Wikileaks was a good example of this
If You Don't Control Your Online Platform, Then Someone Else is Controlling You
be (or become) independent
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has a Policy on Racism and Sexism
In then future we'll show the misogyny and racial slurs
Links 22/09/2025: Murdochs Might Join Fentanylware (TikTok) 'Investors' (Masters), United Kingdom Recognises Palestinian Statehood
Links for the day
 
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
Oracle Started This Year With Slop. Then It Stopped.
Passing fads are like this
Distros That Run on PCs Made 20 Years Ago and Don't Use Systemd
Betas for now
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part I - Abusing British Women on Behalf of American Men Who Abuse American Women
Transparency is important to us, so we've decided to make this series
Slopwatch: Google News and the Evident Slopfarm Infestation
This is what people get about Linux when they query Google for Linux
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Esperanto Music History and Apps For Android
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: More American 'Censorship' (Retaliation for Journalism), Cheeto "Might Be Losing His Race Against Time"
Links for the day
The Blob Slop
Give me more words, give me some text
The 50-Pound Note Experiment and the "War on Cash"
Britain is actually seeing a rebound in cash payments, and it's not a temporary phenomenon
Slopwatch: Blaming the Victims for Microsoft's Failures and Plagiarising Phoronix
That's what Google has been reduced to: slop and slopfarms
Links 22/09/2025: Breaches, Windows TCO, and Arrests
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/09/2025: Rabbit Hole and DeGoogling Fairphone
Links for the day
Links 22/09/2025: Russian War Planes Invade NATO Airspace While Dihydroxyacetone Man Escalates Attack on Free Speech Because of Critics
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 21, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 21, 2025
Links 21/09/2025: "Hey Hi" (Hype) Under Fire, Fakes Identified; Tesla Burns Family
Links for the day
Google's Software is Malware and Malware in Mobile Devices
Originally posted by Rob Musial
Links 20/09/2025: Hegemony Coming to a Close, Luigi Mangione Ruled Not Terrorist
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2025: "Charlie Kirk Was a Hateful Piece of Shit" and Slop Code Attempted by Microsofter
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 20, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, September 20, 2025