Brussels, 07/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 7 May Commissioner Stefan Füle travelled to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) for the second high-level dialogue on accession, co-chaired by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. They both emphasised that the dialogue “is providing valuable support to the accession process of the country by focusing on key reform priorities”. It should help the country to maintain the pace of reform whilst waiting for accession negotiations to begin, which have been blocked due to the conflict between FYROM and Greece on the country's name.
In the meeting's conclusions, the European Commission welcomed the adoption of a comprehensive roadmap defining specific measures, deadlines and certain financial earmarking, in response to reform targets. The commissioner emphasised that “it is important to implement these measures and to monitor the progress regularly. The roadmap itself should be seen as a living process.” An intermediate review of reform implementation is planned for this June.
FYROM and the EU emphasised that the Macedonian government has drawn up measures for further protecting the freedom of expression in the media. The government is also committed to: - strengthening inter-ethnic relations with an exhaustive examination of the Ohrid Framework Agreement by June (the agreement was signed in August 2001 in an effort to end hostilities between the Albanian National Liberation Army and government security forces); - concluding electoral reform by September.
The professionalism and independence of the judiciary and public administration must also be improved. In the context of tackling corruption, legislation against conflicts of interest has been tightened up and progress in the fight against corruption will be closely monitored. A series of actions will also be taken to consolidate the market economy and labour market challenges, including jobs for younger people, will be tackled. The next higher-level dialogue will take place in September. (CG/transl.fl)