Macedonia: Ohrid Accord is 'Only Alternative'

He explained that the latest joint statement by the EU, OSCE, USA and NATO, in which the missions express concern over the political situation in Macedonia and the country’s progress towards reaching  Euro-Atlantic standards, was a direct response to some local politicians who had spoken against the accord.

“We heard statements related to the Ohrid Framework Agreement and they are not helping because it makes people think of other alternatives,” Fouere said.

Recently the leaders of Macedonia’s largest ethnic Albanian opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, said that the accord, which provided a framework for the equal participation of all ethnic communities in Macedonia, is practically dead due to its misuse by the Macedonian majority at the expense of the Albanian minority.

DPA’s leader, Menduh Thaci, and honorary head Arben Xhaferi suggested that Macedonia should abandon the Ohrid Accord, which was signed after the 2001 armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and Macedonian security forces.

The accord envisaged greater participation of the ethnic Albanian community in the state administration, and many other provisions aimed at maintaining the integrity of the state by providing equal rights and opportunities to all ethnic groups.

“We believe that Ohrid Framework Agreement is the only and very important alternative for maintaining the inter-ethnic character in Macedonia, which will provide better inter-ethnic relations and help in the decrease of tensions between ethnic communities.

“That is why we have to make efforts to focus on total implementation of Ohrid Framework Agreement. This will provide mutual trust as well. It is obvious that there is lack of trust between different ethnic communities,” Fouere said.

He also stressed that the political dialogue in Macedonia has been weakened, which he said could be seen in the fact that the political parties cannot agree to stage a discussion on important and controversial topics in the parliament.

One of the topics mentioned was the government funded project for the revamp of the capital, dubbed “Skopje 2014”, which the opposition parties insist should be put to a debate.

“We believe that it's for the best these issues be debated openly in the parliament in order to create trust among citizens and give them priority,” Fouere said.

Meanwhile, the DPA has been boycotting the parliament work entirely since last year. In addition, other opposition parties in parliament recently started boycotting the weekly coordination meetings with Speaker of the Parliament Trajko Veljanovski.

The meetings are considered crucial for setting the agenda of the parliament. The parties announced their decision after complaining that no one from the majority listens to their suggestions.

Veljanovski has asked them to reconsider their decision and return to the parliament.