STRASBOURG IS STILL A LONG WAY OFF

AIM, Skopje, July 7, 1995

Summary:

Although Macedonian delegates in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe wish to interpret the situation solely from the administrative point of view, it is not difficult to conclude that the reasons for "the most probable" postponement of the time limit for discussion about Macedonia's reception into the oldest European institution must after all be somewhat more profound. Although it is difficult to evaluate to what extent this solution was affected by the letter of the Party for Democratic Prosperity (expressing direct opposition to the reception), the outcome speaks in favour of a presumption that it did not remain completely without an echo.

"Macedonia will be received in the Council of Europe, but when that will happen, is unknown so far". This single sentence includes almost all reactions of the Macedonian public to the unpleasant news that the discussion about reception of Macedonia into this European institution will probably be postponed for the beginning of next year.

Although something of the kind could easily be assumed, this unpleasant piece of news brought back from Strasbourg by the members of the Macedonian delegation who participated in the June session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (which lasted from June 26 until June 30), had the effects of a slap in the face on the vanity of a part of the Macedonian public which is used to believe that Macedonia is "an example for all neighbouring countries", concerning democratization, of course. Therefore, although reception of Macedonia at the September session (to be held on September 25 and 26), was considered a fait accompli, and it should be stressed that Mr Miguel Angel Martinez, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CE considerably inspired this euphoria during his visit to Macedonia a month ago when he declared that it was realistic to expect that Macedonia would become a full-fledged member of the Council of Europe in the course of his mandate (by the end of year), it suddenly took an unexpected and unpleasant course.

The head of the Macedonian delegation at the June session, deputy of Social Democrats, Nikola Popovski tried hard to present the whole issue as a purely administrative problem, which sounded quite unconvincing considering the fact that Albania was received as a regular member at this session of the Assembly of the Council of Europe. But, he also cited a few specific comments of the commissions entrusted to prepare a report about "aptitude" of Macedonia for full-fledged membership in the Council of Europe. It is interesting to stress that one of the comments made by the members of a commission who visited Macedonia in May, was that the President of the state and the Prime Minister refused to give interviews to any of the independent journals (there are few of them anyway).

That postponing of the discussion about Macedonia's reception in the Council of Europe is not solely a problem of bureaucratic nature is also verified by specific remarks such as that Macedonia has not yet adopted a law on the media which resulted in an arbitrary decision to close down tens of pribate RTV stations, most of them in Albanian, and it did not slip by that there is not a single independent daily in Macedonia. Although it is not stressed, it is certain that Macedonia cannot count on being received in the oldest European institution before it adopts a law on local self-administration. And, should the Council of Europe remain firm in its stance, one can freely say that Macedonia will have to wait to be received into the Council of Europe for a long time. The unveiled tension created because of this law leads to this conclusion, especially in the part which refers to the use of language of ethnic groups in local self-administrative units. At the same time, it should be stressed that this law is increasingly becoming a serious problem, because even municipalities with Macedonian majority population are showing an increasing interest and are also repeatedly expressing a loud demand for adoption of this law, without even trying to conceal their irritation with "the centralists from Skopje".

Finally, one should mention the letter sent to the members of commissions of the Council of Europe by the parliamentarian group of deputies of the Party of Democratic Prosperity which gathers the majority of the Albanians and which prticipates in the coalition government, demanding postponement of the reception of Macedonia into the Council of Europe until the position of the Albanians is improved, which is, as stated in the letter, worse than before Macedonia became independent. Although it is difficult to say to what extent this letter could have influenced the overall impression of the members of the three commissions which visited Macedonia: the political, the legal and the commission for reception of new members, the final outcome - postponement of the discussion about reception of Macedonia, or as it is stated in a more sophisticated manner, "most probable" postponement, speaks in favour of the presumption that this letter had hit the target, or at least coincided with other "shots".

Relying on the belief that "the most probable" postponement is a matter of administrative nature and that reception of Macedonia is an already accomplished fact, the public in Macedonia is left in a conviction that all Macedonia has to do is wait for January 1996, because it has already done everything needed for the reception. And whether everything has in fact been done, remains to be seen in September this or January next year.

IBRAHIM MEHMETI