Brussels, 03/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Participation of all parties", governmental and opposition, at the dinner organised by President Boris Trajkivski in the presence of Javier Solana and Chris Patten "is a sign that efforts at moving towards a political resolution to problems are taking form", said the spokeswoman for the EU's High Representative for foreign and security policy the day after the latter and Commissioner Patten visited Skopje. The EU also has high hopes, she said, that they will all go to Luxembourg on Monday to attend the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Macedonia and the EU. Finally, the EU is waiting for the idea of a "Europe Commission" to take form, that should bring together all the main Slav and ethnic-Albanian parties.
And yet, the main ethnic-Albanian opposition party, the Party of Democratic Prosperity" (PDP) which, according to Community sources, went to the meeting with Messrs. Solana and Patten, did not take part in the first inter-party and inter-ethnic meeting, which, on Monday, preceded the meeting with the EU representatives, and was to have symbolized the resumption of the dialogue and prepare this "Europe Commission". "The PDP considers that this informal meeting has as goal to have the international community believe that discussions took place in Macedonia and that the dialogue is continuing", explained the PDP for its refusal to participate in the "badly organised" meeting. It calls for the meetings to be "well prepared, with a precise agenda and international mediation". Arben Xhaferi, leader of the Albanian party participating in the government, is alleged to have said, according to several press agencies, that he would leave the government if the demands of his community were not taken into account.
Other sign of persistent tensions, Javier Solana was greeted in Skopje by some one hundred Slav demonstrators accusing him of wanting to impose a change of constitution on their country in view of granting the Albanian minority the same status as the country's Slav majority. The demonstrators shouted slogans such as: "Solana, we know your intentions", and "Solana, fascist". While acknowledging that "it is up to the people of the country to decide on the supreme law of a State", Javier Solana made a point of stipulating that the EU considers that the "Constitution must help each citizen of the country to feel at ease as citizen".
Mr. Solana, who was in Greece on Tuesday, is also to go to Moscow on Wednesday.