We
would like to express our support for the upcoming ratification of the Agreement
for Association and Stabilization between the EU and Macedonia on April 9th. We
would especially like to foreground the central role that European Union plays
in the actual and imaginary perception of the stability of the region for the
various actors involved in building the future of Macedonia: from politicians to
ordinary people. While we believe it is of crucial importance for the future of
Macedonia however, the ratification should be immediately followed by
negotiations that would allow Macedonia to join the European union as a
fully-fledged member. Joining the EU would provide the necessary political and
symbolic matrix that would elevate the existing deadlock between territory and
ethnicity. Should Macedonia have the opportunity to join the EU as a political
and territorial entity, the fear justifying most of the violent actions of the
Albanian extremist representatives concerning long-lasting systematic
discrimination, would become unreasonable, thus making changes in every domain:
legal, economic, political and cultural. We believe that Macedonia deserves this
chance; we urge you to understand the immense difference that such an act would
make for the entire country; and we pinpoint that this is the moment when the EU
could not only influence positively the democratization process in the Republic
of Macedonia, but could make a crucial decision regarding the future of the
country and the wider Balkan region.
Despite
nationalistic outbursts and economic difficulties in Southeastern Europe in the
last ten years, the Republic of Macedonia has managed to nurture a multiethnic
society. Ever since the fall of communism, the Republic of Macedonia has
successfully dealt with many of the ordeals emerging from the political and
economic changes in the region: the violent collapse of former Yugoslavia; the
burdens on its economy due to the loss of markets, further impaired by the
observation of the UN sanctions against Serbia; the Greek misapprehension over
the international recognition and the imposition of an economic embargo; and
finally the considerable social and economic constraints caused by the refugee
floods form the region, firstly from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and recently from
Kosovo.
However,
recently we have witnessed the tensions in Northern Macedonia and Southern
Serbia flaring up, thereby threatening the existence of multi-ethnic Macedonia
and the peace in the wider region. These events have endangered the positive
course of action towards building a stable democratic, multi-ethnic society, and
have begged for a coherent response from the international community. We believe that immediately after the upcoming ratification of the
Agreement for Association and Stabilisation between the EU and Macedonia on
April 9th, negotiations for Macedonia’s full inclusion into EU political and
economic structures should commence. This step would send clear signals to
the citizens across the Balkans that the EU is willing to back up the
democratization process in the region by implementing its vision for a unified
European home rather than facing dire consequences of war and destruction in
Southeastern Europe post facto. Reluctance to support the fragile Macedonian
multiethnic society will only encourage expansionist trends. It will diminish
the prospects for democratic consolidation and economic well-being. The EU
should take into consideration all of the abovementioned, hence laying out a
clear and consistent policy towards Macedonia’s European integration. This is
the only viable alternative to the destabilization of Europe that the break out
of yet another war in the Balkans is due to bring about.
Authors:
Zidas Daskalovski, Macedonian Studies Fellow at
School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London;
Rozita Dimova, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Stanford Univeristy;
Goran Janev, Doctoral Candidate in Social
Anthropology, St. Antony's College, Oxford University;
Vasiliki Neofotistos, Doctoral Candidate in Social
Anthropology, Harvard University;
Maja Trajkovska, MSc in European Studies, LSE;
Kiril Nejkov, LL.M student, University of Cambridge;
Maja Muhic, M.Phil in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.