MACEDONIA suffers a lack of international attention partly because, unlike its neighbours, it emerged from Yugoslavia’s disintegration without fighting a big war. The European Commission supports the country’s desire to open talks on joining the European Union, but this has been stymied by Greece’s objections to Macedonia’s name, which it shares with a Greek province. Now a snooping scandal threatens to undermine even the commission’s support. For the past month, Zoran Zaev, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, has been leaking tapes of alleged conversations gathered for Nikola Gruevski, the prime minister, and his spy chief, who happens to be his cousin. Mr Zaev claims that the pair have listened in on 20,000 people. This would mean that almost every bigwig in politics, business and the media has been spied on—including Mr Gruevski’s ministers. In one tape, the interior minister tells the finance minister that she has talked to the chief prosecutor about dismissing criminal charges against him. In another, the finance minister calls Mr Gruevski’s economic policies “insane”. Macedonians might have guessed that their government was spying, but many are stunned by the extent. Mr Zaev has been charged with trying to “overthrow the constitutional order”. Mr Gruevski says that the wiretapping was organised by a former secret-police chief close to...
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