Brussels, 27/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Friday, the Macedonian Foreign minister Antonio Milososki expressed the wish that his country would accede to the European Union in 2012 and NATO in 2009. He said that Macedonians expected a great deal from the German Presidency of the EU (during the first half of 2007) and hoped that the date for the opening of negotiations could be set during that time. Mr Milososki added that Macedonia would be happy to begin talks at the end of next year or at the start of 2008, opining that it would be “more realistic” to wait until after the French elections in spring 2007. He said that Bulgaria had taken six years between opening negotiations and the date of accession (1st January 2007), but Macedonia was smaller, so he hoped that perhaps talks would last only five years. He indicated that he did not expect the next European Commission, due on 8 November, to contain an announcement of a date for opening accession talks. In December 2005, Macedonia was officially accepted as a candidate for accession to the EU, but no timetable was set for opening negotiations or for entry. On joining the EU, the minister said, making a subtle reference to Turkey (72 million inhabitants), that a country like Macedonia (2 million inhabitants did not pose any real problems in terms of the absorption capacity. He also pointed out that in 2007, Macedonia would begin ambitious reform to lower taxation with a view to attracting EU investment. Among other government commitments were: combating unemployment which has reached 36% of the working population, reform of the judicial system and combating corruption. On this last point, Mr Milososki said that the highest judge in the public prosecutor's office had recently been sacked because he was a hindrance to the fight against organised crime and corruption. “There will be no compromises,” he stressed. The minister will be in Brussels once again on 20 and 21 November to meet MEPs and the Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.
With regard to Macedonia's joining NATO, Mr Milososki said “We are expecting a strong encouraging message” from NATO forthcoming Summit in Riga next month. “We expect realistically that we will be invited to join at the next enlargement summit in 2008.” He felt the accession process would last six months to a year, and hoped to be able to join the Atlantic alliance in 2009, when the organisation will celebrate its 60th birthday. He acknowledged that to meet NATO's accession criteria, Macedonia will have to step up its fight against corruption, complete the reform of the army, making it more professional, and strengthen the rule of law.
Finally, he returned to the “Khaled Al-Masri affair”. This German citizen of Lebanese origin claims to have been abducted by CIA agents in December 2003 and held in a prison in Afghanistan for five months (see EUROPE 9231). Mr Milososki asserted that there were “no CIA prisons” in Macedonia and that nothing untoward had been done by national police officers. He concluded by saying that he did not approve of those anti-terrorist practices recently acknowledged by the American President, but that, for reasons of security, he could understand them. (bc)