Every slowdown in the Balkans’ EU integration creates potential future conflicts. If problems are tied to a territory, a conflict can emerge. If the EU opens its space, the problem of the boundaries is overcome when they will disappear, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, stressed at the session today on “Security and Stability in Southeast Europe and the Caucasus”, within the 49th Munich Security Conference. If the EU has enlargement fatigue, the Balkan youth is tired of waiting, and we have a responsibility towards the coming generations, President Ivanov said. If certain standards and principles apply to the founders of the EU, the same should apply to the future members. Football is a game; during the game you cannot change the rules. Therefore, this concerns us, the rules valid for other states are not applicable to us, since there are additional requirements for us, President Ivanov said, adding that the future is happening today.
NATO, the Macedonian President said, made Macedonia a Guinness candidate, since the country has 14 membership action plans, along with 18 rotations of Macedonian peacekeepers in Afghanistan, sharing all the commitments and risks as participants, but, without any privilege. That is why we are discontented with NATO. The EU found a way to be innovative and creative by opening the high-level accession dialogue. We would be happy if NATO would show such creativity. The Alliance, however, is a structure that needs to be built, President Ivanov said at the session, which was attended by the presidents of Croatia, Ivo Josipovic, of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and the foreign ministers of Georgia, Maya Panjikidze, and of Kazakhstan Erlan Idris.
The Balkans, President Ivanov reminded, has suffered many traumas in the 20th century. The Cold War and the hot peace after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Finally, for the first time in the Balkans, there are countries with democratically elected governments, for the first time young people use one language - English. If we, as politicians, he stated, do not enable our countries to join the EU as soon as possible, it is already done by the young generations, who have found ways to do so through social networks, not territorially. Peace in the Balkans today is possible and it is good that the EU received the Peace Prize to remind the younger generations that the EU is primarily a peace project, and then political and economic, the Macedonian President said. He added that a neutral power for those who live in the Balkans today is the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, as the last resort where citizens can file an application against their own states for violations of their rights.
Referring to the historical facts, for the Balkans and the Caucasus, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, pointed out that the perceptions of the Balkans and Caucasus have always been created by other and therefore the Balkans is a powder barrel, a place with constant conflicts and wars. History says a different story, President Ivanov stated clearly, that in 3.000 years of written history, 2.700 years are marked with wars on the planet, and only 300 years with peace. The paradox is even greater, as he stressed, because the longest periods of peace were in the Balkans.
I regret that in December we did not get what we deserve. If a date was set, today, the things, internally, would have been different, the Macedonian President said. The interlocutors agreed that it is necessary the dialog to be led in the democratic institutions, they stressed the need for greater awareness and responsibility of all social and political stakeholders for the strategic goal and interest of the citizens of the state. Minister Bildt underlined that Macedonia’s realistic perspective, in terms of getting a date, should not be at stake and threatened by internal disagreements. He commended the efforts of President Ivanov to overcome the political situation in the Republic of Macedonia. The meeting also discussed the latest developments in the process of overcoming the difference over the name, under UN mediation.
President Ivanov, on the sidelines of the 49th Munich Security Conference, held a meeting with the President of the Republic of Croatia, Ivo Josipovic. The meeting confirmed the excellent relations and cooperation between the two countries. The two presidents reaffirmed the future cooperation and mutual support between Macedonia and Croatia. Both sides exchanged views and information on the current situation in both countries as well as in the region.
