“Macedonia on the doorstep to the EU and the NATO-the joint responsibility of all political parties"

Macedonia has made in the last 8 years an impressive way forward in its strategic aim and ambition to become member of the Euro-Atlantic structures and is very near to reach this goal. Since December 2005 the country is candidate of the European Union and is eager to start negotiations for the accession as soon as possible and at the same time is expecting also an invitation to the NATO in the coming year. The above mentioned aim unites an overwhelming majority of the population, it is shared by all ethnic communities and supported by all significant political parties.

The OHRID Institute for Economic Strategies and International Affairs within the framework of the Project “Political Dialogue 2007” in the period of September/October 2007 has organized four regional round tables under the name “Macedonia on the doorstep to the EU and the NATO-the joint responsibility of all political parties”. The forums were held in Skopje on 24 September, Kumanovo on 26 September, Ohrid on 5th October and Strumica on 8th October 2007. The discussions which were undertaken on this all party forums were: a raise of the Parliamentary work, a political dialogue between parties, NGOs, citizens, a political culture of taking the arguments of citizens and competitors serious, new structures of the political parties, the internal democracy in the parties, the opening of the parties for the citizens, better transparency of political decision-making processes inside the parties, the participation of the citizens in the parties, parties as service organization for the citizens, awareness for gender issues  and participation of women. On these forums there were representatives from all political parties, international experts from the political foundations which are active in Macedonia like IRI, NDI, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, national experts, Macedonian members of Parliament, representatives from the Macedonian government and a representative of the Norwegian party.

The main discussion on the roundtable in Skopje was regarding the work of the Parliament, the lack of dialog among the political parties, the authoritarian distribution of power within the parties. The conclusions from this round table were that: the political parties must democratize, the decisions should be made in the governmental institutions and not in the parties. All difficult or sensitive issues must be discussed in the Parliamentary Commissions, which have proven to be more effective that the plenary sessions and for the most important laws there should be public hearings. One positive fact was that all the parties are having very good relations with their counterparts from the EU member states. They are using this channel to lobby for the Macedonian faster integration into the EU and NATO. These results from the lobbying can improve if the parties join efforts.

The main questions which were addressed on the roundtable in Kumanovo were: bad privatisation of the companies, very long transition period which is still not finished, bloc of the judiciary reforms, reducing the respect of the political parties and apathy of the voters, which can’t make distinction between different political programs.
The conclusion of this forum was that the process of decentralisation should continue because the decentralisation is the corner stone of European member states. The communication between the parties should be on all levels not just on the leaders’ level.

The discussion on the round table in Ohrid was about the bad communication of the parties with the citizens and with other parties, disrespect of the rule of law and disrespect of the political opponent. The behaviour of the opposition was criticised which is blocking the work of the Parliament instead of giving better solutions in a moment which is critical for the Macedonia membership in EU and NATO.  The parties are addressing more their personal interest rather than the national one. The main conclusion was that the political culture and the democracy can’t be imposed with law but they must be learned. What can be done is the dispersion of power, inclusive model of selection of the representatives of a party on the voters list, wider decision making process, transparency of the work of the Parliament, continuous education and more think tanks which will be the critical mass in the society.

On the roundtable in Strumica the issues which were debated were: the lack of mechanism for control and accountability of the government, lack of capital investments, concentration of the power in the hands of the Prime Minister, need for a open voters list.
There should be a central expert’s body which will function within the government as advisory body. The diversity in Macedonia should be strength, because the multiethnic relations are improved significantly. More attention should be given on the creation of national political programs. The voice of the NGO should be louder and there should be organisation of the interest groups in the Parliament like businessmen, doctors, lawyers.
Generally on all round tables participant concluded that this kind of forums is very useful and that there should be more organised in the future. The interest and the participation were very high. The political parties should joint the effort of lobbying for Macedonia in the European counterparts. There should be democratisation of the political parties which must reform, be inclusive in the decision making process and represent the interest of the citizens who voted them. There are good practices in the partner countries of the EU and the NATO which can be taken as example.