Parliamentary Assembly

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a special honour for me today to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and to address the representatives of one of the oldest and most numerous European families. My country, the Republic of Macedonia, is the thirty-ninth member of this association that has played a very important and historic role in building the general European awareness of peace and understanding, for co-operation and prosperity of the European countries and nations. The Council of Europe is a place where horizons of human rights and freedoms are conquered and broadened, where the strategy of pan-European understanding, and the future of the common European home is being constructed.

This is the reason why, on this occasion, I wish to underscore the significance of the Republic of Macedonia’s membership of the Council of Europe, as a place where my country and my people can realise and defend their aspirations and goals and where they can give their contribution to the well-being and development of the continent.

The Republic of Macedonia gained independence in 1991, following the dissolution of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. It did so in a peaceful and legitimate manner, by way of a referendum and a new constitution, thus showing that, at the threshold of the twenty-first century, it is possible to gain one’s own independent state without bloodshed.

This act was possibly primarily due to the fact that the Republic of Macedonia refused to take part in the senseless war that was waged in the region of the former Yugoslavia and the fact that the Republic of Macedonia proclaimed independence within her present borders, as internationally established borders. Thus, not only did we opt against the policies of territorial aspirations, forceful changing of borders and ethnic cleansing, but we showed that such policies are the cause of conflicts and wars in the ethnically intermixed Balkans. Bearing this in mind, as well as our own personal history in such typically Balkan surroundings, the Republic of Macedonia wrote down in her constitution that she has no territorial claims towards any neighbour. Just the opposite is the case; the Republic of Macedonia opted to affirm the European principles of co-operation and friendship, with formal borders open for a free flow of people, goods and ideas. Today, the Republic of Macedonia has established full diplomatic relations with all countries in the region, and we have practically no border dispute with any of our neighbours.

In establishing overall domestic and foreign policy, the Republic of Macedonia offered itself as a factor of peace and stability in the region. This is confirmed by our ceasing to be what was historically a bone of contention and becoming a key to peace in the southern Balkans. This was possible because an independent and sovereign Republic of Macedonia put an end to the historical aspirations of her neighbours towards the republic’s territory and people.

We opted for an active policy of good neighbourliness on the principles of equidistance – in other words, equal friendship with all our neighbours. We opted for political dialogue and peaceful means for resolving outstanding issues with all of our neighbours. As a country in transition, we opted for speedy and radical reforms leading towards a market economy. We opted for, and started building, a modern European legal state and civil society. Interethnic understanding and tolerance and the realisation of the rights of national minorities represent the foundations of our internal stability and democratic development, which have singled us out as an atypical example of Balkan behaviour. Our foreign policy is firmly oriented towards the European-Atlantic option. Lastly, we promoted the option for the Europeanisation of the Balkans and its speedier attachment to the European integration.

The painstaking five years that the Republic of Macedonia needed to gain the rightful and natural place that it and its people deserved in international organisations and in the international community is now behind us. It was painstaking due to the many obstacles and restrictions placed in our way, which disregarded our will and political preference. They were the result of the disturbed situation in the region of the Balkans, the war, great mistrust and misunderstandings, sanctions and embargoes, as well as the lack of a consistent policy on the part of the international community for quite some time. There were, of course, the residues of European bi-polarity and the major problems of the post-communist period.

Fortunately most of the problems to which I referred have been overcome, which is confirmed by our membership of the Council of Europe, an association that has been of exceptional help to the Republic of Macedonia on its path to international recognition. For that reason I want to elaborate the views of my country on the situation in the region where it is situated – the Balkans.

I am convinced that I will not be making an overstatement if I say that the Balkans is one of the key issues that will test not only the future of our common European security architecture and defence policy but the strategy of the common European home.

Like it or not, the Balkans are a European region, and not only because of their geographic location. Today, there is a new political structure and reality in the Balkans. Greece is a member of the European Union and Nato. Turkey is getting ready for integration with the Union and is a member of Nato. Slovenia and Macedonia have clearly corroborated their European orientation, with economic and democratic reforms well under way, a clear peaceful position and orientation for association with the European Union and Nato. Croatia shares the same aspirations. The European aspirations of Albania are clear, although this country is still facing major economic and social problems, and reforms are dragging behind. Bulgaria is also a typical country in transition. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, following the signing of the Dayton Agreements, has yet to secure economic consolidation and access to international institutions and organisations. Bosnia-Herzegovina needs reconstruction to salvage the consequences of the devastation of war and to re-establish basic living and working conditions. Today it is the biggest construction site in Europe, overshadowed by doubts whether peace has been achieved for the long term.

All those facts are major topics of discussion on the agendas of the European Union, Nato, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Again, it confirms the political and factual European affiliation of the Balkans, not least because Nato is involved in the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina and not least because the south front of Nato is located on the Balkan-Mediterranean belt. The majority of the Balkan countries have joined the Partnership for Peace and have commenced the process of negotiation for trade, co-operation and association agreements with the European Union, and are almost all members of the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

Europe suffered greatly from historical events in the Balkans, and from recent events. The physically severed north-south communications resulting from the war in some areas of the former Yugoslavia rendered transportation – as well as economic exchange and the free flow of people, goods and ideas – much more difficult. Enormous pressure has been created by new economic emigrants and more than two million refugees from the countries that were at war. There is the threat from war profiteering and the expansion of money-laundering routes, drug trafficking, terrorism and the arms trade, as well as the problems of chemical and radioactive contamination.

The basic moral that we must never overlook is that the strengthening of the peace and security of the Balkans must start with the new Balkan reality – the former Yugoslavia has dissolved and countries are independent and sovereign states with internationally established borders. All former members of the Yugoslav Federation have an equal right to legal continuity and equal succession to the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Any new experiments in imposing or forcefully creating some new state entity in that region are impossible. All those countries have problems and perspectives of their own, and some have a radically different approach towards issues such as democratisation, privatisation and human rights. For those reasons, it is high time that various gatherings, documents and international forums stopped using the term “former Yugoslavia”, because such an entity does not exist. If that fact is disregarded, all other plans and actions may prove to be counterproductive.

The only solution is to support the independence of those countries and their speedier assimilation into the European economic, political and military integration. A major contribution to that end will be the full implementation of the Dayton Agreements and the Paris Treaty for Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the normalisation of relations among all Balkan countries, the successful development of democratic processes in all of them, and the advancement and protection of human and minority rights. That is the only way by which the European powder keg – the Balkans – can truly grow from a mere geographic entity into a stable and secure European region.

By opting to build up a legal state and a civil society, and to join in with European integration, the Republic of Macedonia has consequently and authentically opted for full cooperation with the Council of Europe – for co-operation in the process of gradual adjustment of our political and legal system to European standards and rules. From the time when we initiated the procedure for gaining the status of special guest at the Parliamentary Assembly, the Republic of Macedonia has been attempting, in co-operation with the Council of Europe, to make a selection of compatible legal regulations, and to implement further adjustments benefiting from the expertise that is helping to “purify” or upgrade such laws.

On the other hand, in the much smaller area in which regulations were lacking, we used the experience of the experts from the Council of Europe from the very initial stages of preparation of such laws and other acts. Hence, in the course of last year and this year, with the help of legal experts, we passed a number of laws that incorporated the standards of the Council of Europe. We expect that, with the help of legal expertise, a number of others will be in place by the end of the year. We believe that in that way we are creating the qualitative conditions for completing the first phase of transition, and for enhancing Macedonia’s standing as a modern European state.

That is why the Republic of Macedonia is working seriously to fulfil the obligations that she undertook by becoming a fully fledged member of the Council of Europe. By September we shall have ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and all its protocols, as well as the General Agreement for Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the European Charter for Local Self-Government. We are currently working intensively on their ratification.

In that regard, I shall present our views regarding the monitoring system established under the auspices of the Council of Europe. In principle, Macedonia has from the very beginning accepted international monitoring. That was to our benefit, for it made possible a realistic presentation of the situation in Macedonia, and it helped in the rationalisation and resolution of various problems. That is why we believe that in the coming period we should not be included in the mandates for the former Yugoslavia. The mandate must conform to our status as a member state of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and similar United Nations missions.

In that context, it is especially important that the negotiations between the European Union and the Republic of Macedonia for a trade and co-operation agreement have ended successfully, marking the beginnings of our association with the European Union.

The Republic of Macedonia is devoting special attention to the advancement and protection of, and respect for, human rights. There is a Macedonian proverb, “Every man is worth as much as the next – and more.” To me, that illustrates better than any political statement the essence of our deep tradition and the awareness that our people have of respect for, and advancement of, human rights, cohabitation, understanding and tolerance towards other people. Hence the Macedonian state’s authentic desire to apply high international standards, especially the standards of the Council of Europe, in our domestic legislature. In a short time the Republic of Macedonia has truly achieved a lot in that area.

On this occasion I should especially like to address the issue of the protection and advancement of the rights of national minorities. Minority rights in Macedonia rest on a model based on the traditions of the Macedonian people and the minorities that live together with them, but also on the standards of international law and practice in that field. That model puts the protection of minority rights in a clear and comprehensive legal framework, by which special treatment for minorities is established on a constitutional level. That is the starting point for further legal elaboration.

In addition to advancing the legal framework, a clear policy of affirmative action is being created and implemented, with the aim of facilitating the full realisation of the foreseen solutions and to improve the integration of the minorities in all spheres of social life. That has confirmed the Republic of Macedonia as an atypical Balkan country, in times when ethnic cleansing and genocide, stifled ethnic rights and religious and ethnic discrimination are a Balkan reality and one of the greatest security risks for Europe.

I must point out the valuable role that experts from the Council of Europe and from the United Nations have played in this process, together with the High Commissioner for National Minorities of the OSCE.

As a whole, the respect of national minorities’ rights is crucial for peace and stability not only in the Republic of Macedonia, but in the whole region where Macedonia is located, as there is no single country in the Balkans without national minorities. Their existence has enriched our societies and it is a sound basis and a bridge for bringing people closer together, for building good bilateral and regional relations, and for establishing constructive co-operation between the countries in the region.

Those convictions form the foundations of our proposal for conducting a comparative study that should determine the position of the national minorities in the Balkans. The proposal has been supported by the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights, Ms Elisabeth Rehn, as well as by the High Commissioner for National Minorities of the OSCE, Mr Max Van der Stoel. The delicacy of the issue implicitly demands permanent dialogue, with the aim of advancing understanding, trust and friendly and good-neighbourly relations, and, ultimately, of preserving stability in the whole region. We are convinced that the study that we propose will represent a good starting point for such a dialogue, and that it will enable the Balkan countries to co-operate more closely on issues of common interest and to offer recommendations for further development.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to express again my deep pleasure at having the opportunity to speak before all of you here today, in this open and democratic forum of European countries and peoples.

I, of course, remain at your disposal for all questions that are of interest to you in connection with the Republic of Macedonia and the policy that we follow. Thank you.