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Books on Macedonia
REPUBLICAN REFERENCE
Area (sq.km)
25,333
Population
2,071,210
Capital
Skopje
Currency
Dinar
President
Branko Crvenkovski
Private sector
% of GDP
45%
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Update No: 112 - (26/09/06)
The Macedonians have a high regard for NATO, which in 1999 won
the Albanians generally over to a peaceful, pro-Western path. Actually, an event
five years ago, 9:11, had a positive repercussion in Macedonia; its local
Albanian insurgents laid down their arms in late September 2001, ending the
threat of yet another Balkan war.
But trouble is brewing again
After the 5th July elections won by the centre-right, Prime Minister Nikola
Gruevski chose not to form a government with the main ethnic Albanian party -
the Democratic Union of Integration (DUI), which got the support of 62 per cent
of the ethnic Albanians, Macedonia's biggest minority.
He instead formed a coalition with the smaller Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA).
Since then, the DUI has been refusing to recognize the legitimacy of the
government arguing that the voice of ethnic Albanians is being ignored.
On 11th September, the former leader of the 2001 ethnic Albanian guerrilla group
and current president of DUI, Ali Ahmeti, told reporters that Macedonia could
enter into "a dangerous situation" amid strong dissatisfaction among
most Albanians that their preferred party, the DUI, has been excluded from the
new government.
The June 2001 Ohrid Agreement - brokered by EU and NATO diplomacy - ended seven
months of heavy fighting between Albanian separatists and Macedonian security
forces in Macedonia. But Mr Gruevski's centre-right VMRO-DPMNE opposed the Ohrid
agreement legislation adopted by the previous government led by the centre-left.
This makes the prospect of joining NATO an urgent one. No civil war has ever
broken out in one of its member states, unless one regards the colonels' coup in
Greece as one, which in a sense it was, clamping down a most unwelcome regime
for seven years until overthrown in 1974.
NATO: Riga Summit to send signal on enlargement
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the upcoming Alliance
Summit in Riga will send a "signal" on enlargement, after meeting with
the Prime Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski.
Mr. Gruevski, who was appointed Prime Minister following the July elections,
visited NATO HQ on 12th September, to discuss with the Secretary General his
country's progress towards meeting the requirements of NATO's Membership Action
Plan.
"This is a performance-based process, without automaticity," the
Secretary General told reporters, "But there will be, I hope and I am sure,
an encouraging signal at the Riga Summit."
Prime Minister Gruevski underlined the importance of the country's reform
process, both for its relationship with the Alliance and for the people of the
country. "We are going to strengthen efforts…to join NATO," he said.
"What NATO is asking of us is to implement reforms which will improve the
quality of life of citizens."
Mr Gruevski said that tackling corruption and reform of the judiciary and police
were some of the key priorities.
From consumer to producer
The Secretary General praised the country for its defence reform and
contribution to NATO-led operations.
"The Prime Minister is representing a country which is not only a consumer
but also a producer, of security," said Mr. De Hoop Scheffer.
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been involved in NATO's
Partnership for Peace programme, which builds cooperation and interoperability
with the Alliance, since 1995. NATO led a peacekeeping operation in the country
until 2003. Today, the country contributes to and supports NATO operations in
Afghanistan and Kosovo.
No Guarantees for Macedonia Getting Date for Start of EU Talks in 2007
The Macedonians naturally want to join the EU too. But this will certainly
take longer. For in the EU they would immediately qualify for huge subsidies as
the poorest former Yugoslav state. They would be consumers of Brussels largesse
with a vengeance, and beneficiaries of it as poor producers.
Nevertheless, Skopje last December scooped official EU candidate membership
status and will be subject to a key progress report in November.
There are no guarantees that Macedonia will get a date for start of the talks
with EU in 2007. That is the message which Gruevski received in Brussels in a
mid-September visit. It is not the moment now to announce the date and it is too
early to speak, was the direct message of Javier Solana, High Representative for
the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary-General of the Council of the
European Union to Gruevski.
"I don't think this is the moment to speak for concrete dates. As I said
two days before, the EU leaders are changing their priorities every day. The
world is changing very fast and it is too early to tell", Solana added. He
was waiting for reforms, results, the development of the economy.
EU warns Macedonia on Albanian minority rights deal
The EU wants to retain leverage over Skopje and its policies for as long as
possible, before admitting it to membership, of which it is, nevertheless, in
the long-run assured. There are many in Brussels and elsewhere in the union who
regard the adhesion of Bulgaria and Romania, due in January, as having been
agreed too precipitously.
Brussels is well aware of the fractious state of Macedonian politics post-June.
It has urged Macedonia to respect the June Ohrid 2001 agreement on Albanian
minority rights if it wants to stay on track in its EU accession bid. EU foreign
policy commissioner Javier Solana and EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn met
Premier Gruevski in Brussels on 13 September, amid concern over looming
instability in the country with ethnic Albanians challenging Skopje's new centre-right
government.
"I hope very much that he will have good luck in the determination he has
to move the country forward. I have asked him to move forward in the application
of the Ohrid Agreement that for us [the EU] is a fundamental element," Mr
Solana said.
The EU has now told the Macedonian leader that the Ohrid legislation is a key
component of reforms for Macedonia's road to EU membership.
Commissioner Rehn said that disputes with ethnic Albanians must be resolved by a
political dialogue between his cabinet and the DUI. "It is important to
have a broad political consensus on a country's road to EU membership. The
government and opposition must show the willingness for political dialogue that
one can expect from a mature democratic country such as the Republic of
Macedonia ", Mr Rehn told reporters.
"They must dance this tango together and create the necessary channels of
communication," Mr Rehn added.
DUI officials said the first draft of a proposal related to minorities that Mr
Gruevski's government has prepared - on the police sector - is aiming at
centralisation by removing competencies from municipal police to newly designed
regional authorities - contrary to the goal of decentralisation in the Ohrid
Agreement.
"The draft-law on the police sector clearly demonstrates that VMRO-DPMNE
led government's first priority is to strengthen the competences of the central
government on the sector which is against the provisions of the Ohrid
Agreement," senior DUI politician and former deputy prime minister Musa
Xhaferi told DTT-NET.COM.
Mr Xhaferi said the majority of Ethnic Albanians "have no trust" for
the current government led by the party which "during the last four years
has voted against all the legislation related to the Ohrid Agreement and also
had organised a referendum in 2004 against the self-rule rights at municipal
level - which failed."
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ENERGY
Hydro power plants tender deadline extended
The Macedonian government extended the deadline for an expression of interest in
a tender relating to the construction of two hydro power plants worth a total of
538.6 million Euro by one month, news reports said on September 12th.
The deadline for the international public competition for submitting letters of
interest was extended to October 12th. The public tender relates to the
implementation of a build-operate-transfer concession contract for the Cebren
and Galiste hydro power plants. The cost of the construction of the Cebren hydro
power plant is estimated at 338.38 million Euro, while the cost of Galiste power
plant is forecasted at 200.241 million Euro, New Europe reported.
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FOREIGN INVESTMENT
EBRD's investment to increase
EBRD investments in Macedonia will increase over the next two years to help
further promote the country's transition process and reform agenda, the bank
announced, it was reported on September 1st.
In its latest strategy for the country, EBRD said that investments will focus on
supporting and attracting local and foreign businesses, working with the
financial sector to develop a wider range of products and to increase financing
for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The bank will also promote
infrastructure projects, including privatisations. There will be a particular
focus on projects that benefit businesses and people, such as roads, airports,
as well as on regional projects. The bank will also help push forward the reform
agenda, particularly in areas such as the judiciary system, the fight against
corruption, as well as improving the business climate for investors,
particularly SMEs. EBRD investments to date amount to more than 403 million
Euro, New Europe reported.
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PHARMACEUTICALS
Alkaloid invests 2m Euro in SAP software
Macedonia's leading drug maker Alkaloid announced that it was planning to buy
SAP business software in a two-million-Euro project to modernise and computerise
its operations, New Europe reported.
The implementation of the SAP system is scheduled to be completed next July,
Alkaloid said. Alkaloid is one of the 10 most liquid shares and the largest
company by market capitalisation on the Macedonia Stock Exchange. The company
had 353.9 million denars in net profit for 2005, down 30.3 per cent on the year.
Alkaloid is the market leader in Macedonia with annual sales of 15 million Euro,
with a market share of 20 to 25 per cent based on sales.
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS
EBRD's investment to increase
EBRD investments in Macedonia will increase over the next two years to help
further promote the country's transition process and reform agenda, the bank
announced, New Europe reported.
In its latest strategy for the country, EBRD said that investments will focus on
supporting and attracting local and foreign businesses, working with the
financial sector to develop a wider range of products and to increase financing
for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The bank will also promote
infrastructure projects, including privatisations. There will be a particular
focus on projects that benefit businesses and people, such as roads, airports,
as well as on regional projects. The bank will also help push forward the reform
agenda, particularly in areas such as the judiciary system, the fight against
corruption, as well as improving the business climate for investors,
particularly SMEs. EBRD investments to date amount to more than 403 million
Euro.
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