Stabilization In Macedonia Gets Financial Support
An international conference of donor countries organized by the World Bank and European Commission in Brussels has approved the allocation of 578 million euros to balance the budget, rebuild the economy, and implement the peace agreement in Macedonia. The largest donations have been made by the European Union and United States. Such a positive for Macedonia decision by the international conference came after the Macedonian parliament cut short its lengthy discussions and approved a key condition of the peace agreement between the government of Macedonia and the Albanian ethnic minority on amnesty for the Albanians who took part in military operations against the Macedonian armed forces. The agreement was signed in August 2001, with Javier Solana acting as mediator. The approved amount of help tops the target set before the conference began its work twofold.
Total financial assistance to Macedonia will be divided into two parcels. The first one, EUR 307 million, is earmarked for rendering macroeconomic help, rebuilding areas affected by last year’s conflict, and implementing the peace agreement providing for a broader representation of Albanians in the civil service and executive, and a wider use for the Albanian language. Incidentally, the peace process is being overseen by about 1,000 NATO observers. The second installment of 271 million, is allocated for Macedonia’s general economic development. Macedonian Prime Minister Ljupco Georgiyevski is quoted by the BBC as declaring, “With the conference over, we have left behind our political instability and opened a new page of economic prosperity.”
Simultaneously, international non-governmental organizations are warning that the allocation of large sums of money, with no demands for a radical reform put forward, could spur corruption. On their part, representatives of the EU and World Bank argue that they will closely monitor how the money is spent, the implementation of reforms, and strengthening of the free media.
The issue that tacitly dominated the decision on international assistance, quite sizable given Macedonia’s two million population, was the demand to abandon the build-up of the country’s armed forces and stop purchases of heavy armaments. Ukraine, which supplied helicopters and tanks to Macedonia under a 1999 contract, has also come under fire in the form of the recent protest made during the EU-Ukraine conference that coincided with the international one on help to Macedonia. The obvious argument that the Macedonian leaders managed to preserve the country from disintegration only thanks to a stronger army fell and continues to fall on deaf ears. Consequently, Ukraine stands a good chance, by showing strong and well-meaning insistence, to profit from the situation and secure a role for itself in rebuilding Macedonia. Hitherto, Ukraine has had a bad luck as all its efforts to receive even partial compensation for the damages it sustained due to the sanctions against Yugoslavia and NATO’s peacekeeping operations in 1999 have been fruitless. True, prior to the conflict in Macedonia, Skopje had proposed for Kyiv’s consideration joint projects, and if Ukraine manages to rebuild trust in itself, the prospects of cooperation could be good. Incidentally, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Kharchenko is now visiting the Balkans.
COMMENT
Stevo TENDAROVSKY, national security advisor to the president of Macedonia:
“We are content with the positive results of the conference on international assistance. Help will be given to maintain our balance of payments, develop the country’s economy, rebuild the conflict areas, and implement the peace agreement. This meets many of our problems. So far, many good declarations have been made. Now it is important that proper agreements be signed.
“Concerning the prospects for our trade with Ukraine, I do not think NATO and the EU will demand a complete ban on technical military cooperation. The issue involved only heavy armaments: we have enough of these to meet our demands and do not plan new deliveries. We want to focus our cooperation on a different area as we need help in the military training of our servicemen and the maintenance and repair of the weaponry available. Economic and trade successe, not weapons, is our priority.
