92001E1172

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1172/01

by Camilo Nogueira Román (Verts/ALE) to the Council

(24 April 2001)

Subject: Double murder in Tetovo, Macedonia

The whole world witnessed the killing of two utterly defenceless men in front of the television cameras by Macedonian army soldiers.

Is the Council going to stand by and take no action, when such acts of barbarism, which have already caused thousands of deaths in the Balkans, are taking place all over again in the face of the failure of the European Union's Member States to take action?

Reply

(21 November 2001)

The Council is seriously concerned about the level of tension and violence which the EU has repeatedly condemned in the firmest terms in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Incidents like the one to which the Honourable Member refers are the unfortunate result of acts of provocation from Albanian extremists aimed at drawing the government of FYROM into the spiral of a full-scale conflict.

To interrupt the spiral of violence, the EU High Representative, Javier Solana, through his strong personal commitment and numerous visits to the country since the beginning of the crisis, has been instrumental in getting a political process through interethnic dialogue

under way. On 13 May a government of national unity, including main ethnic Albanian political parties, was finally formed, which was warmly welcomed by the Council as an important step towards closer cooperation between different ethnic communities in the country.

The signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with FYROM on 9 April has been a powerful lever in the hands of the EU, and the agreement will remain an important instrument for engaging the FYROM government.

The EU has clearly stressed the need for the new government to produce quickly concrete and substantial results, particularly on issues related to the situation of minorities (i.e. new TV channel in the Albanian language, progress on the Albanian-language South East Europe University in Tetovo, early reconstruction of buildings damaged by armed clashes etc). The European Union will support FYROM's efforts to this end. The EU feels that the delivery of early, concrete results is vital in order to keep the political process going, to isolate extremists and to bring FYROM closer to Europe. The Council emphasises its view that only through political means can this crisis be resolved and a viable solution found.

The EU message was clearly spelled out by the EU Ministerial Troika, which visited Skopje on 16 May 2001, to all its interlocutors.