Press Release: EU support for building confidence in FYROM

The Commission adopted on 3 October 2001 a decision to finance a Confidence Building Programme for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia under its Rapid Reaction Mechanism. The main objective of this programme, for which the budget is €10.3 million, is to provide rapid support for the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement of August 13, 2001 signed by the main political leaders of the Government coalition. It is very important to assist now in implementing the Agreement in order to reduce inter-ethnic tensions and to avoid escalation of the conflict or even spill-over to neighbouring countries. This package will be conditional upon full ratification of all constitutional amendments and a new law on local government.