Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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in conjunction with the international
financial institutions. Hand in hand
with the promises for the money the
government was also handed so far
unseen criticism regarding the size
of the corruption, which, according
to the International Crisis Group,
endangers the survival of the country
itself.
One would say that the developed
world has once again put in
practice its well known and proven
policy of the carrot and the stick.
The juicy carrot in this case
weighs 307 million euros, as much
as Macedonia was promised in
Brussels, fifty more million from
what was asked from the donors.
The icing on top of this is over 200
million euros in the form of additional
financial help, which would
be effectuated bilaterally, on the
basis of offered projects from the
Macedonian side to specific countries.
Shortly, half a billion euros, as
much as the donors package is
worth, it is an imposing sum of
money even for much larger
economies than ours and certainly, a
clear signal for the support of our
country from the international community,
after everything that was
experienced last year and for the fulfilling
of many conditions, imposed
by its most powerful representatives.
Little tampering under the surface
of this valuable "carrot" one is
left with a different perception. The
majority of the means are donations
and grants, it means that they are
given without the obligation to be
returned, with or without interest. As
it was presented from the European
Commission, 73 million euros are
credits out of the 307 million total,
while 234 will be grants. The message
that one can clearly see comes
out of the fact that important transfers
of the sums are seen in the parts
of the donors package that deal with
the reconstruction of the destroyed
buildings in the course of war activities
as well as the implementation
of the framework agreement. The
grants are to deal with specifically
these things. There is a different picture
regarding the support for the
paid balance, for which less money
was granted from what was demanded,
the majority of which are appropriate,
but still credit means. This,
according to the experts, does not
mean anything else but a disagreement
with the last year's expenditures
from the budget, where the
majority was used for armament.
The role of the stick is to warn
that such a large level of corruption
and organized crime in the country
cannot continue anymore. The
uniqueness, and the proximity of the
evaluations of various international
institutions and organizations, have
reached such a level that they no
longer can be answered with justifications
that these things happen
because of evil-intended individual
cases. The continuity of the reports
and the events only complement
such conclusions: starting from the
shocking report of ICG published on
the day of the donor's conference in
the influential Wall Street Journal,
then the scanning and the evaluation
of GRECO, an institution with the
Council of Europe which among
other things deals with the corruption
in certain countries, all the way
to the evaluations from the European
Commission regarding the implementation
of the Agreement for
Stabilization and Association, where
in the part of the Balkans, corruption
was marked as one of the key problems,
and for Macedonia it was also
added that the solution of the issue
of the enterprises which have gone
bankrupt, the non-transparent
process of privatization and the feeble
banking sector, will be postponed.
The illegal activities from
smuggling of goods, weapons, drugs
and people, especially women,
because of the spreading of prostitution,
add to the general image of
Macedonia, leaving the country
without a clear strategy how to fight
against these illegal activities.
If we add to this the level of
unemployment, the stage of poverty
and lack of social programs or again,
the possibilities for self-employment,
the perspectives of the local
economy are not rosy at all. Having
in mind these conditions, it is difficult
that a serious investor from
Austria or some other country will
respond to the invitation of
President Trajkovski to invest in our
country.
The donor's conference as a one
way act of promising financial help
and especially as a strong political
signal it has played its role. Now the
ball is on our turf. The question is
whether the current team, regardless
of how much influence they may do
through forming offices to fight
against corruption, writing criminal
charges against former ministers or
sending hundreds of inspectors to
close down trade centers under the
slogan 'fight against the grey economy',
it has a true will and a moral
integrity to engage in war with
essential problems, or perhaps the
whole action is only a campaign
reflection for the international criticism
which it receives every day.
Finally, one has to bear in mind
that regardless of how big they are,
the means from the donors cannot be
a substitute of what we ourselves
should do to improve the conditions
in the country. Less and less people
fell for cheap tricks, empty replies
and false promises. The majority are
clear that no donations will help the
country, if they end up in the gray
channels of corrupt officials and
functionaries. People employed in
the bankrupt enterprises know this
best, who cannot seek answers for
their problems somewhere else but
from the members of Parliament and
the Ministers in the Government.
Regardless if in return for this they
will get (as they themselves say) a
loaf of bread or a beating.
(The author is a journalist in
"Utrinski Vesnik")
What is happening to us?, May 2002