No visas for the EU, but no date for talks either

Balkans 2009: Macedonia –

28 December 2009 | 15:37 | FOCUS News Agency

The name dispute between Macedonia and Greece turned out to be the most serious obstacle for Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration in 2009 as well. The EU foreign ministers failed to reach to a consensus on setting a date for opening EU membership talks with Macedonia, as the reason was again the unsolved name dispute between the two neighboring countries. This year the country held local and presidential elections and Macedonia is sending off the year with a new head of state. 2009 was also marked by a tragedy – the sinking of the Ilinden tourist boat in the Ohrid Lake, which claimed the life of 15 Bulgarian tourists. European integration The name of Macedonia turned again to be a stumble stone on the European road of the country. During the meeting of the EU foreign minister on December 12, Macedonia failed to get the long-awaited date for starting membership talks with the EU. The European diplomats welcomed the progress achieved by the country and decided the issue about setting a date for the opening of accession talks to be deferred for the period during the Spanish rotating EU Council presidency – in the first half of 2010. The reason for this was the unsolved name dispute with Greece. Hopes, meetings… Despite the hopes that the election of Georgious Papandreou as the new Greek Prime Minister would give a possibility for the long talks on the name dispute to move in a positive direction, this was not achieved. Some days before the EU Council meeting, the Macedonia Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski met with his Greek counterpart Papandreou in the frames of a regional forum, which was held in the Greek part of Prespa. There were huge expectations for the meeting considering the pressure that the EU exerted on the two countries. However, the positions of the two countries remained distant. After the meeting, Prime Minister Gruevski stated that Athens wants Macedonia to change the name of the language and the nation and defined Greece’s demands as ‘maximalistic’. The Greek state leaders in their turn informed that the ‘red line’ of Greece was clear – one name for universal use. The meeting between Gruevski and Papndreou was preceded by a joint appeal of the EU High Representative for External and Security Policy Javier Solana and the European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who called on the Macedonian leaders to solve the name issue and to give way for the European development of the country. According to Solana and Rehn, the responsibility for the solution of the long-existing problem is thoroughly in the hands of the Macedonian authorities. Solana and Rehn warned that Macedonia should take advantage of the moment as if the setting of a date for the opening of membership talks with the country is deferred, it is no clear when the issue of enlargement would come to the forth in the Union’s agenda again. A number of diplomatic activities followed on behalf of Nikola Gruevski. For a relatively short term, the Macedonian Prime Minister visited a number of European capital cities in search for support for the country’s European integration. The Macedonian government held the expectations that the EU member states would take into account the recommendation of the European Commission regarding the progress marked by the Macedonia, and the name issue would be left to be solved afterwards. In the eve of the EU foreign ministers meeting, Grievski also met with the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. This has been the first meeting held between Gruevski and Barroso during his mandate as a Prime Minister. During a joint press conference, the EC President stressed that the recommendation of the Commission should be taken as a stimulus for the country to solve the name dispute with Greece. ’Sophisticated veto’ The hopes of Macedonia were directed towards the rotating Swedish EU Council presidency and the Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. In his conclusion about Macedonia, Bildt insisted that a time framework is set in which Athens and Skopje to solve their 18-year long dispute. The head of the Swedish diplomacy proposed this to happen until the next EU meeting in March. Due to the strong opposition on behalf of Athens, the proposed text by Bildt was not accepted, while a decision was taken to defer the date setting for the period of the Spanish EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2010. Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stated that Athens has again imposed a veto, but in contrast to the veto it imposed for the invitation of Macedonian to join NATO, ‘this time it was more sophisticated’. The Head of the EU mission to Macedonia Ervan Fuere in his turn, commented that this is not a veto, but refers to a decision of the EU foreign ministers, which gives an opportunity for the next six months Macedonia to be given the long-awaited date for the start of talks with the Union by solving the name issue. The opposition, in the face of the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) accused the power-holders that they have not started essential talks with Greece, and have instead undertaken formal meetings with the Greek state leaders. According to SDSM, the decision of the EU foreign minister is not favorable for Macedonia since enlargement is not among the priorities of the Spain. SDSM appealed for the development of a common position on the name issue, which would give a possibility for the problem to be solved over the next six months. The ruling VMRO-DPMNE rejected the ideas of the opposition with the explanation that SDSM has often changed their position on the name of the country. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stated that SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski had made abuse of the information he had about the name issue for political goals during the time when he was a President of the country. Reactions The Albanian political bloc in the country did not stay out of the debate about the Euro-Atlantic integration of Macedonia. The leader of the oppositional Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) – Menduh Thaci, called on the government to resign, and the international community to establish a protectorate in Macedonia. According to Thaci, ‘Gruevski does not want Macedonia to join the EU, but to join Bulgaria’. The Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which is part of the ruling coalition alongside VMRO-DPMNE, in turn expressed a position that the Euro-Atlantic integration of Macedonia is a priority for the party. However, at the same time, media commented that the lack of a set date for the opening of EU membership talks, could seriously jolt the ruling coalition. These claims were backed further by the word arguments among MPs from the two ruling parties at the end of the year. DUI’s deputy chair Teuta Arfi and MP Emira Mehmeti called on the government to work seriously on the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration instead of considering projects for monuments on the central square in Skopje. This was the reason for the VMRO-DPMNE MP Kosana Nikolic-Mazneva to direct serious criticism against her two colleagues stressing that ‘the two daughters-in-law from DUI see pens as ‘Kalashnikov guns’, and paper – as ammunition’. The argument among the MPs from the two parties from the ruling coalition stirred doubts for new snap elections. Expectations show that the possible snap elections could be scheduled after six months if Macedonia fails to get a date for starting membership talks with the EU. The forecasts were also confirmed by SDSM leader Branko Crvenkovski, who said that ‘it would be a political suicide for those who think about snap elections over the next six months’. VMRO-DPMNE announced they are not thinking about snap elections. DUI held its party congress in the end of the year, where Ali Ahmeti was re-elected to the leader’s post. The public eyes were focused on the congress and the messages that Ahemti would address to its coalitional partner – VMRO-DPMNE. In his 40-minute long address to the congress delegates, DUI leader paid huge attention to the application of the Framework Agreement, the foreign policy, economy, reforms, but also to the relations within the ruling coalition. In this context Ahmeti said that there were provocations and traps were set, but the party had managed to avoid getting involved in any of the plots. NATO In the course of the debates on the name issue and the European integration, the issue about Macedonia’s NATO membership suddenly disappeared from the country’s agenda. The reason for which Macedonia failed to join the Alliance last year together with Croatia and Albania, was again the name dispute with Greece. NATO’s invitation for Macedonia remains open and according to diplomats, ‘the country could join every Wednesday when there is a meeting of the member states’ ambassadors, if only it has solved the name issue.’ Visa-free in the EU The European integration of Macedonia was yet marked by an achievement – the fall of the ‘Schengen Wall’. The decision for a visa-free regime was assessed as a historical event. The Macedonian citizens can now (as of December 19, 2009) travel visa-free to 25 of the 27 EU member states (with the exception of the UK and Ireland), as the only condition is to possess biometric data passports. Those that have no biometric passports would need to present a visa issued by the respective embassy. Macedonia had to fulfill a number of requirements to get the visa regime liberalized, including the implementation of biometric data passports, integrated border management, fight against corruption and organized crime, as well as to sign agreement for re-admission with the EU countries. Presidential and local elections Macedonia held this year local and presidential elections at one and the came time. In March, for a forth time Macedonian citizens went to the polls to elect a head of state, and local authorities – for a third time. Branko Crvenkovski, who was elected President in 2004 after the tragic death of President Boris Trajkovski, who died in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decided not to run for a second mandate at the post. Instead, he announced he would go back to his leader’s seat in SDSM, which suffered serious losses at the snap elections in June 2008. First round One of the interesting candidates for the presidential post was Ljube Boskovski, a former Minister of Interior of Macedonia, who was acquitted by the Hague Tribunal. Boskovski expected support from his party, but after VMRO-DPMNE decided to nominate Professor Gjorge Ivanov, Boskovski decided to run as an independent candidate. At the first round of the elections, Boskovski won 150,000 votes, which were however, insufficient to take him to the run-off vote. The serious support on behalf of the electorate made Boskovski leave once and for all VMRO-DPMNE and form his own party – United for Macedonia. Albanian parties also took part in the presidential elections, including the New Democracy, the Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) and the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI). The elections were very important for the leader of New Democracy – Imer Selmani, who had recently left DPA and expected to impose the political identity of his newly-established party. Under the influence of the elections that had just ended in the USA, where the American people elected for the first time ever an Afro-American to the post, Selmani organized his campaign under the motto ‘The Macedonian Barack Obama’. This has been the first Albanian politician in Macedonia to have searched for the support of the Macedonian electorate. The elections results show that about 30,000 people from the Macedonian community had voted for Selmani. The Professors’ duel The run-off elections saw the candidates of VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM – Gjorge Ivanov and Ljubomir Frckovski, respectively, competing for the post. The election race between the two university professors (both teaching in one and the same university) passed under the sign of harsh rhetoric and mutual accusations. The former Interior and Foreign Minister of Macedonia – Ljubomir Frckovski, considers Ivanov lacks the necessary experience to be a head of state, but would be more of a ‘tool in the hands of Nikola Gruevski’. The response of VMRO-DPMNE was that ‘Frckovski is too vulgar to be a president’. The run-off vote ended with a victory for Ivanov, who scooped 453,616 votes, in contrast to Frckovski, who got 264,828 votes. In the run-off vote, Ivanov was supported by the coalition partner of VMRO-DPMNE – DUI. The presidential elections made another blow against the oppositional SDSM. The leader of the party – Branko Crvenkovski, announced that the time has come for serious reforms – both cadre reshuffles and reforms in the party’s program. According to Crvenkovski, it is high time for the party to obtain a younger look and be among the people. At the presidential elections, DPA raised the nomination of Professor Mirushe Hoxha, who was the only female in the presidential race. Local elections The local elections in the country passed under the sign of the election race in Skopje. The oppositional parties united around the nomination of the leader of the New Social Democratic Party (NSDP) – Tito Petkovski. The main opponent of Petkovski was the candidate of VMRO-DPMNE – Koce Trajanovski, former MP and Mayor of the Skopje Municipality of Gazi Baba. Trajanovski won at the run-off vote. It is worth mentioning that no female candidate was elected to the mayor post at the local elections throughout the country. The assessments The local and presidential elections in the country were held under the monitoring of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The organization of decent and democratic elections was a ‘test for Macedonia’ and one of the conditions of the EU for starting pre-accession talks with the country. Despite the partial criticism, according to the assessment of the international observers, the elections were satisfactory. The main problem that was registered was related to the electoral lists, which need to be updated. After the elections, the Ministry of Justice of Macedonia started a procedure for transferring the competences regarding the electoral lists to the State Electoral Committee. The Ilinden boat tragedy 2009 also brought to Macedonia one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the young state. On September 5, the tourist boat ‘Ilinden’ sunk in the Ohrid Lake, claiming the life of 15 Bulgarian tourists. According to the initial information, the reason for the incident was a torn rope, as the overloading of the boat was not excluded from the list of the reasons for the tragedy. Bulgarian investigating officers also joined the investigation into the incident. The only person against whom charges have been pressed so far is the 23-year-old captain of the boat – Sotir Filevski, who has already been released, after spending 30 days in the preliminary arrest, which was then prolonged with a home arrest of another 30 days. With the help of Croatian experts, the boat was retrieved from the lake. An expertise on the boat followed. It was made by Macedonian, Slovenian and Croatian experts. The technical experts also made a final expertise in the beginning of December, which tested the boat’s endurance as it was put to different tests. The report of the experts is expected to published after the New Year holidays. The Minister of Transport and Communications – Mile Janakievski, handed in his resignation ‘for moral reasons’, due to the tragedy. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski rejected his resignations, which caused a number of criticism both from the opposition, and media and analysts. The discussions around the incident also touched a number of issues related to the transport in Macedonia, as well as with the partization of the institutions. According to the comments, the main problem in the case was the Ohrid Lake navigation captaincy service, which is in charge of the control on boats that break the traffic rules systematically – overload of the boats, lack of lifeguard vests. The tragedy also raised a lot of questions related to the tourism in Macedonia and the attitude to it not only in Ohrid, but throughout the country. Ohrid mayor Alexandar Petreski awarded those who took part in the saving of the distressed Bulgarian tourists. His words that he would like to award the boat’s captain Filevski, who was at that time still in the arrest, caused a harsh reaction from Bulgaria. It is envisaged a monument to be raised in Ohrid in memoriam of the Bulgarian tourists, who died in the incident, but nothing concrete has yet been mentioned on the matter. Zoran TALEVSKI