Friday, 24 May 2013, Tallinn, Estonia
The head of delegation of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mr. Aleksandar Nikoloski, at the meeting of the Monitoring Committee
The PACE Monitoring Committee is discussing the draft resolution and draft recommendations on the post-monitoring dialogue with the Republic of Macedonia concerning the honouring of obligations and commitments undertaken upon accession to the Council of Europe. Rapporteur for Macedonia is the Member of the UK Parliament Mr. Robert Walter. The Monitoring Committee is the most important PACE committee and after it will adopt the document, it will be put for adoption at the plenary during the summer session in June 2013.
The report covers issues related to the Euro-integration process of the Republic of Macedonia; the fight against corruption; post-election events; functioning of the Parliament; the Ohrid Framework Agreement; the reform of the judiciary; human rights; minority, linguistic and cultural rights; fight against trafficking of human beings, the asylum seekers, the organization and results of the parliamentary elections held on 5 July 2011 and of the 2013 local elections.
As member of the Monitoring Committee, the Head of the Delegation of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia Mr. Aleksandar Nikoloski is participating in the work of the Committee at its session held on 23 and 24 May in Tallinn, Estonia.
Regarding the integration of the country in NATO and the EU, PACE expresses clearly its position that the future of Macedonia is in NATO and the EU and points out the obstacles from Greece. Namely, the resolution states that “The Assembly regrets that the name issue continues to delay the opening of the accession negotiations with the European Union, as repeatedly recommended by the European Commission since 2009, as well as Macedonia’s attempts to join the NATO, despite the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of 5 December 2011. The Assembly hopes that Greece will adopt a more flexible approach to this issue. The Assembly also invites Macedonia to pursue its dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations with a view to settling the name issue in the near future, and to develop constructive relations with neighbouring countries, thus contributing to the overall stabilisation of the region.”
According to Mr. Nikoloski this is the strongest and most explicit message so far that Greece should stop using the name issues as an excuse to block the Macedonian people in their will to join NATO and the EU, as well as a clear call for Greece to start respecting the ruling of the International Court of Justice. He also expressed satisfaction that the terms Macedonia and Macedonian are used throughout the texts of the draft resolution and recommendation, which clearly expresses the attitude of the Rapporteur Mr. Robert Walter and of the PA of the Council of Europe.