THE HAGUE — Last year, I turned down an ambassadorial posting to Moscow and ended my 18-year diplomatic career. Serving my government and my country, Macedonia, had become very different things, and I felt there wasn’t much I could do from within to make a difference. Recent events have only reinforced this view. Once praised as a success story in a region riven by war, Macedonia is in crisis and urgently needs European Union intervention.

In February, Zoran Zaev, head of the opposition Social-Democratic Alliance for Macedonia, or SDSM, accused Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including judges, foreign ambassadors, opposition politicians, journalists and police officials. According to Mr. Zaev, some were under surveillance for about four years. As proof, Mr. Zaev has released a series of recorded conversations, allegedly featuring himself and other political leaders, including Mr. Gruevski’s supporters.

Mr. Gruevski denies the allegations, insisting that the recordings were concocted by a foreign intelligence service — which he has yet to name — to instigate a coup. Mr. Zaev says the material came from whistle-blowers within Macedonian intelligence. He has been charged with “violence against representatives of the highest state authorities.” Five others, including police and intelligence personnel, were charged with espionage. One has since been sentenced to three years in prison.

Mr. Gruevski and ministers in his conservative VMRO-DPMNE party claim the recordings were doctored. But that charge is unlikely to stick. The SDSM has provided transcripts to journalists who were allegedly surveilled, and a number of them have confirmed the accuracy of those documents. Rufi Osmani, founder of the Albanian minority National Democratic Revival party, and Ljupco Svrgovski, a former public prosecutor, have also verified the accuracy of transcripts in which they appear.