Pro-EU government takes power in Macedonia

ELITSA VUCHEVA

28.07.2008 @ 09:26 CET

The Macedonian parliament on Saturday (26 July) approved the country's new government led by prime minister Nikola Gruevski and pledged to do its utmost to speed up Macedonia's EU integration.

Mr Gruevski's centre-right VMRO-DPMNE party won 63 seats in the June parliamentary elections, while the Social Democratic Union got 27, and the main parties representing the country's ethnic Albanians – the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and the Democratic Party for Albanians (DPA) – won 18 and 11 seats, respectively.

• Print
• Comment article

The new coalition government consists of VMRO-DPMNE and DUI, while the Social Democratic Union has decided to boycott all parliamentary activity following the arrest of one of its vice-presidents, Zoran Zaev, some 10 days ago, saying the accusations against him of alleged links to organised crime were "politically motivated."

"We will work day and night to become a member of the European Union and NATO," Mr Gruevski told parliamentarians when presenting his new government, AFP reports.

Fighting corruption and organised crime, as well as improving inter-ethnic relations in Macedonia will also figure among the priorities of the new team, he said.

A persisting deadlock in the country's name row with Greece is threatening to delay Skopje's EU ambitions despite any future progress on its internal deficiencies, however.

Letter war

Athens has been refusing to recognise its neighbour's constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia - since the country declared independence in 1991, saying it implies territorial claims on a northern Greek province also called Macedonia.

The "name issue" has poisoned relations between Greece and Macedonia for 17 years, but in April, it reached a new level as Greece blocked an invitation by NATO for Skopje to join the military alliance.

Most recently, the countries have been engaged in an exchange of letters, with Mr Gruevski sending one to his Greek counterpart, Kostas Karamanlis, earlier this month addressing the issue of returning properties to "ethnic Macedonians born in Greece."

Athens – which does not recognise the existence of a Macedonian minority in Greece - replied accordingly, accusing the Macedonian premier of raising "a number of non-existent and unsubstantiated issues."

Mr Gruevski then turned to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and also sent him a letter addressing the problems of the Macedonian minority in Greece, asking him "to personally engage for Greece's strict obeying of the obligations stemming from international instruments regarding human rights, with special emphasis on free expression of ethnic identity and all rights stemming from that."

EU not competent

However, Mr Barroso replied on Friday (25 July) that the commission had "no general competence" to deal with such issues, which are the responsibility of the EU's member states.

He also stressed that Macedonia had to solve its problems with Greece before aspiring to become a full EU member.

"I regret, however, that the bilateral relations between your government and the government of a neighbouring country, a member state of the European Union, are facing these problems," reads Mr Barroso's response.

"A fundamental aspect of having a European vocation is to approach such difficulties with a constructive and cooperative spirit…Maintaining good neighbourly relations remains essential for the progress of your country towards the European Union," it goes on.

Macedonia was granted the status of EU candidate in December 2005, but has yet to open accession talks with the bloc.

Skopje is hoping that this can happen in the course of this year, but the stalemate in its relations with Greece, added to the fact that current EU presidency country France has clearly stated its support to Athens, may complicate its plans.