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Blerim Reka
Or, to be more direct, there are some key positions in this multi-ethnic
country reserved only for those who do not belong to this 20%, such as: President
of the State, President of the Assembly, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister for
European Integration, Deputy Prime Minister for Finance, Minister of External
Affairs, Minister of Defence, Minister of Internal Affairs, while other key state
positions may be allowed to this 20% of citizens. Why, during these ten years of
OFA implementation was no Albanian citizen appointed to any of these 9 senior
state positions?
The other half implementation of OFA is the non-officialization of the
Albanian language as an official language in the RM according to the Amendment
V of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, since the Law of 2008 did not
officialize the Albanian language as an official language at a state level, at least
not let’s say as the world’s newest country as did the Republic of Kosovo, which
officialized the Serbian language despite the fact that Serbians in that country are
five-fold less than are Albanians in Macedonia.
Where did this fear come from that by officializing the Albanian language,
Macedonia will became a smaller or a weaker country? I wonder if Belgium or
Switzerland are weaker countries having 4 official languages? On the contrary,
precisely the philosophy of OFA, in 2001 inaugurated the model of multi-ethnic
communication as a factor of reconciliation, but although it did draw attention to
the officialization of the Albanian language, it nevertheless failed to be
implemented even after a decade. Failure to fully implement the Annex C
(confidence building measures) and observance of the Amnesty Law is another
weakness of the 10 year implementing process. Moreover, four Hague cases that
were returned to the Macedonian judicial system, not only prevent gaining
credibility but is contrary to the Amnesty Law (Official Gazzette no.18/02,
07.03.2002).
And last but not least in terms of importance, is the non-implementation of
the budgetary component. This decade of OFA was unfortunately followed by the
unequal allocation of resources and discrimination of cash flow on an ethnic
basis, (my remarks show that the maximum of 5% of the state budget is allocated
for the Albanian ethnicity).
Reasons for an incomplete implementation of the Ohrid Agreement
Why is this Agreement not fully implemented even after 10 years and what
was the approach of the government during these ten years of implementation of
OFA?
The first period: 2002-2006, we might say, was a satisfactory period for the
implementation of the OFA. During the first four years, the Ohrid Agreement was
mainly implemented but it did not meet the imposed implementation deadline of
2004.
The second period: 2006-2010, noted serious shortcomings in the
implementation of the OFA, and it set aside the inter-ethnic relations.
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