>>News Homepage

February 16, 2005

The delivery of Macedonia’s response to a questionnaire brings Skopje closer to the EU.

SKOPJE, Macedonia--Macedonia’s aspirations for European Union membership received another boost on 14 February when its delegation submitted over 14,000 pages to the EU in Brussels in response to an EU questionnaire.

It took the Macedonian government four months to answer the roughly 4,000 questions put to it by the EU. The questionnaire is a standard procedure for countries seeking eventual membership in the Union. It contained questions on the rule of law, market economy, human and minority rights, the realization of the Framework Agreement that ended the country’s brief armed conflict in 2001, the free flow of people and capital, and similar topics. The answers were expected to give a clear picture of the current situation in Macedonia and will serve as a basis for negotiations on candidate status and eventual membership.

Macedonia hopes to be admitted to candidate status before the year is over.

"We’ve done our job," Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski said on 1 February after the process of responding to the questionnaire was completed. "From our friends and partners in Europe we expect a fair chance and candidate status."

Thanking all those who had helped in the process, Buckovski said that answering the questionnaire had proved that "the Macedonian administration can work according to the European course.

"We came out more organized and more coordinated and got a real vision of where we are and what should be done. These 14,000 pages could be the foundation of our European construction," Buckovski said.

At the 14 February ceremony, the EU’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said, “this is a great day for Macedonia, but I expect even greater days,” according to Macedonian television A1.

ALL-PARTY CONSENSUS

In addition to high-level meetings, an exhibition of ethnic cultures, a cocktail reception, and a concert by celebrated pianist Simon Trpcevski, singer Tose Proeski, and other Macedonian stars were planned for the handover ceremony.

The final question Macedonia had to negotiate with Brussels was how many persons the official delegation could bring to the ceremony. Through its Skopje office, the European Commission protocol department made it clear it considered the size of the proposed delegation to be excessive given the “symbolic” nature of the event.

The Macedonian government then reduced the delegation to 32 persons, including 17 officials. Prime Minister Buckovski will be accompanied by several ministers, including deputy prime ministers Radmila Sekerinska and Musa Xhaferi, as well as Liberal Party leader Stojan Andov as a representative of the opposition.

Another point Buckovski had to settle before his trip to Brussels was how to achieve an all-party consensus on EU integration.

On 10 February he assembled 14 political parties "aiming to unite the powers on the road to Europe and to realize the common project," according to the invitation.

Even though the main opposition parties objected that the event was "vulgar political marketing" since “[we have] proved our devotion to EU integration many times before," they still sent their representatives.

The meeting resulted in a joint declaration and an initiative to create two new bodies to monitor EU integration: a parliamentary council chaired by an opposition representative and a national forum led by the civil-society sector.

A WARM WELCOME

After initial skepticism about Macedonia’s decision to open the formal process of integration, Brussels has grown more encouraging along the way.

A clear message came from the then president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, when he delivered the questionnaire last October. " The road towards Europe is now clearly traced," he said. "All that is needed is the final effort to grab it. The last mile is missing."

This warm welcome was most recently echoed by Roberto Antonione, Italian deputy foreign minister, during his visit to Macedonia.

"Macedonia is a good example for the countries from the region. It will get a positive response to the answers [to the questionnaire] and Italy will give its full support," Antonione said.

The EU’s official plans for Macedonia were revealed during an 18 January session of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, when Enlargement Commissioner Rehn said the decision to admit Macedonia to candidacy status would be made by the end of this year.

Depending on the quality of the answers, Rehn said that the Commission's avis, or official view, regarding Macedonia's candidacy could be on the agenda of the European Parliament session in December 2005. The country would then become an official EU candidate and an example for the Western Balkans.

In the concluding resolution, the parliamentary committee asked for a clearer vision for Macedonia and other Western Balkans countries on the part of the EU. It stated that Macedonian efforts to decentralize its administration should be supported by EU aid programs.

Macedonian state radio recently quoted Nicholas White, the head of the International Crisis Group, a respected Brussels think thank active in the region, as saying he expected Macedonia to begin negotiations for EU membership in 2007.

White also downplayed a widespread fear that the region’s instability, and especially the issue of Kosovo’s status, which is likely to come to the fore during 2005, could delay Macedonia’s quest for candidacy: "The answers to the questionnaire will determine the future of the country, and not the Kosovo status."

Candidate status will bring many benefits for the impoverished Balkan republic.

Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva told Channel 77 radio on 6 February that candidacy would give Macedonia access to additional EU funds of around 14 billion euros, according to the EU’s financial plan for 2007-2013.

In addition, the European Commission recently approved a strategic plan for EU support to the Western Balkans within the regional CARDS political and economic stabilization program. The program provides 85 million euros for reforms in public administration, the justice system, and the security sector and for combating organized crime and corruption.

LONG LAST MILE

But analysts say the "Prodi mile” may not be easy. Over the last decade, reforms in Macedonia have gone slowly and haven’t yielded the expected results.

Erhard Busek, the coordinator of the Stability Pact for South East Europe, recently said that Macedonia and Croatia would be ready for EU membership before Turkey, but that Macedonia was moving “much more slowly” than Croatia. EU leaders decided in December to open membership talks with Croatia this March.

Over the coming years, planned reforms should make Macedonia's public administration smaller and more efficient, speed up court procedures, and improve the business climate.

When the deputy prime minister in charge of the integration portfolio, Radmila Sekerinska, made a surprise demand on 13 February for Macedonia to be admitted to the EU by 2010, she also said that new competition laws and a reform program for the Interior Ministry were imminent. Buckovski for his part declared judicial and economic reform to be a priority. These are all reforms the country needs urgently. Whether they will be sufficient to put Macedonia on an inexorable integration course remains to be seen.