Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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conference and it will surely be followed
by other economic injections,
which will improve the living standard.
However, the way these finances
are administered is important because
we have already seen what tension
corruption can cause." Further,
Polozhani expressed his hope that
international monitoring will be provided
for the administration of the
donated funds.
He thinks that the central issue of
the Ohrid Agreement is decentralization
because, in his opinion, the country
was too centralized due to political
interests. "One of the ways to make
Albanians equally responsible for the
future of this country is decentralization
of power. Complete implementation
of this part of the reform will be
very important for the final quality of
changes," Polozhani emphasized. He
hopes that all Albanians in Macedonia
are aware of the importance of this
dimension of the reforms, and will do
anything to put them through.
WE SHOULD NOT
EXPECT ANYTHING
SPECTACULAR
The vice-president of DPA, Ilijaz
Halimi, said that after the implementation
of the reforms included in the
Ohrid Agreement, we should not
expect any spectacular changes in
people's lives, but he also believes that
there will be some improvements.
"When the constitutional changes
are adopted several laws will be
passed, along with a list of the
Parliament's duties and responsibilities,
which will cover the greatest part
of the Ohrid Agreement. Then, other
measures to restore confidence will
be put in place in order to provide
long-term peace in Macedonia. Even
if all of these regulations are passed
as soon as possible, we should not
expect any spectacular changes in
people's lives. However, there will be
certain improvements, especially
concerning the fulfilment of Albanian
rights," Halimi commented.
Halimi believes that Macedonians
will not lose anything with these
changes because they will continue to
"enjoy their rights as afforded in this
work." Halimi continued, "First of
all, if we take into consideration the
donor's conference, which is expected
to bring the financial means for the
restoration of the country's economy,
all Macedonian citizens should
expect economic prosperity. This
will also reduce the unemployment
rate and solve other social questions."
Halimi thinks that after the final
implementation of the Ohrid
Agreement we will live in more stable
surroundings because many aspirations
and goals of Albanian political
parties will be realized. "I am satisfied
with this document because it fulfils
the promises that DPA made to its
voters. I do not want to talk about all
the promises that were made before
we came to power, but we will remind
our voters during the next elections.
In fact, we have accomplished something
of great importance for us as a
political party," he said.
According to Halimi, there are
still some outstanding issues that
require solutions. "I am saying this
because you can never get enough ethnic
and civil rights. That means that
those who say that the constitutional
changes completely fulfil Albanian
rights in Macedonia are wrong.
Regardless of what has been accomplished
by the Ohrid Agreement, the
improvement of ethnic and civil rights
must continue, and according to international
standards," he said.
Halimi also stated that obstructions
from various institutions or individuals
are to be expected, but he
thinks that the process will be monitored
by the international community.
"Every obstacle in the implementation
of the reforms included in the
Agreement will be an obstacle to the
integration of Macedonia in international
structures. Taking this into
consideration, I believe that all political
subjects in the country will come
to their senses and understand that
everyone will profit if the reforms are
implemented," emphasized Halimi.
Regarding measures to restore
interethnic confidence, he believes that
we should take into consideration one
very concrete effort, not only of political
entities, but also state institutions-cooperation
with the international community.
"I am saying this because that is the
only way to understand each other without
prejudice. According to the Ohrid
Agreement, the authorities should make
governance more accessible to common
citizens. I am talking about the laws
connected to the decentralization of
power, which will be adopted in the near
future. Actually, with the law of local
self-government and the law of financing
of the local authorities, municipalities
will have more responsibilities than
before in the fields of culture, education,
social protection, rural and urban planning
and so on," Halimi said. He thinks
that municipalities will have more
financial means for handling these
spheres but always in the interest of citizens
to fulfil of their needs.
IMPROVEMENT OF
LIVING CONDITIONS
Halimi believes that there will be
many positive changes in this dimension,
which will support the interest
of citizens and improvement of their
living conditions. "This will also be
useful for the country itself because
central authorities will be exempted
from the many obligations they have
had up until now. Because they were
so busy, central authorities could not
function in all parts of the country,
which will not be the case when the
greatest authority is given to municipalities,"
Halimi emphasized. Halimi
hopes that, with the realization of the
aspirations resulting from the Ohrid
Agreement, our country will fulfil
almost all international standards and
will move quicker towards integration
in the Euro-Atlantic structures.
In his opinion, final membership
in EU and NATO will bring many
good things. Among them, our citizens
would no longer need visas for
European countries and would be
able to travel freely and exchange
goods. Halimi hopes that after the
implementation of the Agreement,
Macedonia will have many advantages
regarding its membership in the
Euro-Atlantic structures compared to
other countries in the Balkans.
(Branko Gjorgjevski is a journalist
at Dnevnik, Xhelal Neziri is
a journalist at Fakti)
Return of peace, December 2001