Macedonia: Agenda 2006 - Project on Ethnic Relations

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PREFACEIn the three years that the <strong>Project</strong> on Ethnic Relations and the SwissEmbassy in <strong>Macedonia</strong> have been organizing informal discussionsamong <strong>Macedonia</strong>’s political parties in Mavrovo, a mountain resort inWestern <strong>Macedonia</strong>, the “Mavrovo Process” has become a unique institutionin the country. These roundtables, which typically include a dayof talks exclusively among governing coalition parties, followed by asecond session for all the parliamentary parties, provide the <strong>Macedonia</strong>npolitical elite with the only venue apart from the parliament where allpolitical parties can meet and discuss the most pressing issues andconcerns of the day. Perhaps more important, the fact that the Mavrovotalks are informal and off-the-record, and located far from the dailydistractions of political life in Skopje, allows participants to engage indialogue that is substantive, and truly aimed at solving problems. Begunin 2003 as a way to improve communication over the implementation ofthe Ohrid Framework Agreement, the Mavrovo Process has since evolvedto cover a range of other national priorities. The December 2005 Mavrovoroundtable focused largely on <strong>Macedonia</strong>’s European Union candidacy,and the upcoming <strong>2006</strong> parliamentary elections.The timing of this Mavrovo roundtable, as more than one participantnoted, was auspicious: on the eve of the first day the <strong>Macedonia</strong>n newswas dominated by the report that, during the EU’s Council of Ministersmeeting, the French foreign minister questioned whether the Union wasready to move ahead with a new wave of enlargement by extending EUcandidacy status to <strong>Macedonia</strong>. Coming on the heels of a November Euro-From left to right: Radmila Sekerinska, Thomas Füglister, Allen Kassof, Livia Plaks,and Musa Xhaferri.1
pean Commission recommendation that <strong>Macedonia</strong> be made an EUcandidate, the potential for a delay was an unexpected and troublingdevelopment for <strong>Macedonia</strong>’s political leaders. The governing coalition,which had invested much political capital in achieving the reformsrequired by the Union, was especially concerned over the potential damagea delay would cause, not only to their electoral fortunes, but also to thepace of the country’s progress toward eventual European integration.The members of the European Union ultimately voted to accept<strong>Macedonia</strong> as an EU candidate. (This took place after the participantsleft Mavrovo.) The discussions documented in this report, however,should be of interest not only to observers of the <strong>Macedonia</strong>n politicalscene, but also to those concerned with the European project. As<strong>Macedonia</strong> continues to struggle—and succeeds—in holding together asociety still under great pressure from forces of ethnic rivalry, nationalism,and economic stagnation, its hopes for European integration are seen bymany as a test of reality of the “European perspective” for the WesternBalkans, which was proclaimed at the Thessaloniki Summit of 2003.The participants in the December Mavrovo roundtable were well awareof the stakes of EU accession for their own country, and also, with asettlement for neighboring Kosovo on the horizon, of how the<strong>Macedonia</strong>n example has the potential to impact the entire region. Thisreport records their concerns related to a possible EU disappointment, aswell as other pressing issues as the ruling and opposition parties lookedtoward the country’s first parliamentary elections since 2002.We would like to thank deputy prime ministers Radmila Sekerinska andMusa Xhaferri for their commitment to the Mavrovo Process, and fortheir always helpful suggestions in organizing the roundtables.PER also expresses its sincere gratitude to the Swiss Federal Departmentof Foreign Affairs for its support of the Mavrovo Process, as well as to theSwiss Embassy in <strong>Macedonia</strong>. We particularly thank the Swiss Ambassador,Thomas Füglister, for his personal involvement in and commitment tothis initiative, along with Armin Rieser, Albert Hani, Mimoza Angelovska,and other Embassy staff for their indispensable help in organizing theMavrovo sessions.Alex N. Grigor’ev, PER’s director for the Western Balkans, was responsiblefor planning and organizing the Mavrovo roundtable, whichwas chaired by PER’s President Emeritus and Senior Adviser Allen H.Kassof, and opened by Ambassador Thomas Füglister and PER PresidentLivia Plaks. PER Program Officer Alan Moseley is the author of this report.In order to encourage frank and open dialogue, it is PER’s practice topublish remarks by participants without attribution. This report has notbeen reviewed by participants, and PER assumes full responsibility forits contents.Livia B. Plaks, PresidentPrinceton, New JerseyFebruary <strong>2006</strong>23
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Macedonia: Agenda 2006 - Project on Ethnic Relations

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