Macedonië hoopt onderhandelingsgesprekken voor toetreding tot de EU nog dit jaar te starten, ondanks verkiezingsgeweld(en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS -Macedonia says it is ready to open EU accession talks in the second half of this year and has taken steps to reassure Brussels over violent incidents that marred the country's recent elections.
A series of gunfights claimed one life and left several people injured in the mainly ethnic Albanian-populated areas in Macedonia during the 1 June elections. Election monitors also reported a host of voting irregularities.
Following the events, the European Commission pronounced itself "very concerned," while Slovenia, currently holding the six-month rotating EU presidency, said at the time that it "deeply deplored that violence and intimidation accompanied elections in parts of the country."
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday (10 June) in Brussels, Macedonia's foreign minister, Antonio Milososki, aimed to reassure the EU.
"Formation of the government will not take place until every candidate or member of the parliament is elected in a fair and democratic way, especially in the areas where some irregularities have been noted," Mr Milososki told reporters.
He said that the Macedonian ministry of interior has already launched procedures against "approximately 80 people" - 30 of whom have been detained - and "no one will be pardoned or excused once the evidence on irregularities is in."
Additionally, the elections will be re-run on 15 June for 196 of the country's some 3,000 polling stations.
EU integration remains 'top priority'
Despite the incidents, the minister stressed that his country felt ready to open EU accession negotiations and was hoping for this to happen this year.
"Macedonia is aware that we will not be prepared by tomorrow to become a member of the EU, but we feel prepared tomorrow to open accession negotiations over EU membership," he said.
The former Yugoslav country of some two million inhabitants was granted the status of EU candidate in December 2005, but has yet to open accession talks with the bloc.
In April, the EU signalled that this could happen this year - provided that the Balkan state makes greater effort in several fields, including administrative reform and the rights of minorities.
'France has chosen Greece'
Macedonia's preferred timing coincides with France's presidency of the EU, which is to start on 1 July and will last until the end of the year.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has clearly stated that he supports Greece in a 17-year-old name row over Macedonia's name - something that may eventually prove problematic for Skopje's EU bid.
Athens has refused to recognise its neighbour's constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia - since the country declared independence in 1991, as it considers that this implies territorial claims on a northern Greek province also called Macedonia.
During a one-day visit to Athens on Friday (6 June), Mr Sarkozy evoked his Greek roots - his grand-father was Greek - and was applauded by parliamentarians after saying in the Greek national assembly : "Know that France has chosen Greece."
For his part, Mr Milososki said he hoped France would remain objective when assessing Macedonia's EU progress.
"We do believe that the French slogan 'liberté, égalité, fraternité' will be equally implemented in any approach towards Macedonian aspirations as well. Therefore I think that the French president will be capable of sticking to the principles of common values when assessing Macedonia's capability to open accession negotiations for EU membership," Macedonia's chief diplomat said.