Skopje attacks Commission’s Balkans plan

Date: 25/11/1999

By Simon Taylor

THE Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is warning that its reform efforts could be jeopardised if EU governments insist that the Balkan states must meet new political and economic conditions before they can move closer to joining the Union.

FYROM's Ambassador to the EU Jovan Tegovski has expressed concern that the Commission is linking integration into the Union to the creation of a new organisation in the Balkans. He told European Voice that if EU member states supported this approach, Europe would "create a new dividing line because the positive achievements of Macedonia will be put into a kind of cordon sanitaire".

Tegovski warned that the Union's insistence on a new organisation rather than recognising Skopje's close economic links with countries in the region could be seen by some in FYROM as an attempt to recreate the old Yugoslav federation.

"This represents a major obstacle for the most advanced countries of the region to move closer to the EU," he said, adding that the Commission's stance could send the "wrong political message on all the efforts" FYROM had been making.

The ambassador was reacting to a recent paper drawn up by Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen in which he suggested that western Balkan countries' chances of closer integration into the EU should depend on "establishing a regional organisation for free trade and economic cooperation".

Tegovski pointed out that FYROM already had trade pacts with most of its neighbours. He added that it was the only former Yugoslavian country which had normalised relations with all the countries in the region including the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, citing this as proof of Skopje's commitment to working with its neighbours.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) is warning that its reform efforts could be jeopardised if EU governments insist that the Balkan states must meet new political and economic conditions before they can move closer to joining the Union.