MACEDONIA : BETWEEN OHRID AND BRUSSELS Nadège Ragaru1 An (much) abridged version of this text has been published in the Chaillot Papers, 107, January 2008, at: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/cp107.pdf In the July 2006 parliamentary elections, a majority of ethnic Macedonians voted for the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO-DPMNE, right-wing) in the hope that Macedonia would end a difficult chapter of its history - the post-conflict period. Since an Albanian armed insurgency erupted in February 2001, the political agenda had indeed been virtually dominated by interethnic issues. In 2001, early international involvement had prevented the armed confrontation from turning into a full scale civil war2. But the Ohrid Framework agreement (FA) that successfully put an end to violence on August 13, 2001, entailed major constitutional and institutional changes designed to redress what was perceived as imbalances between the ethnic Macedonian majority and the Albanian community. For five years, under close international supervision (the EU Office for the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement, the United States, NATO, the OSCE...), Macedonia’s ruling elites were thus compelled to devote most of their energy to minority rights and interethnic relations. In 2006 VMRO-DPMNE leader, Nikola Gruevski, built his political success on a discourse that aptly combined promises to make Macedonia a prosperous country and to boost ethnic Macedonian self-confidence. After years when members of the ethnic majority felt they were the major losers in the FA process, the VMRO- DPMNE’s emphasis on national pride was perceived as most welcome. 1 CNRS (ISP, Institut des sciences sociales du politique) Research Fellow, associated with CERI (Centre d’études et de recherches internationales), email :
[email protected] 2 The conflict reportedly made few casualties - less than 200 -, mostly among combattants.