18/10/2017 Monitoring
The capacity to deliver reforms which are in line with Council of Europe standards will be “a litmus test” for the new government in Skopje, according to PACE’s co-rapporteurs for post-monitoring dialogue with “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
Reporting on a recent visit to Skopje (30 May-1 June 2017) in an information note made public this week, Lise Christoffersen (Norway, SOC) and Valeriu Ghiletchi (Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD) said their visit took place at “a very significant moment”, which saw the end of the three-year political crisis that had put many reforms on hold. “We noted that the people who were hoping to see the country reformed were expressing careful, but fragile, optimism,” they said.
“There was also a cautious attitude among civil society representatives about the capacity of the new authorities to overcome the patterns of governance common to all political parties, which have been detrimental to the good governance of the country since its independence,” they added.
The co-rapporteurs urged all political parties in the country to “make the necessary compromises and engage in a constructive dialogue” in order to implement the recommendations in the updated “Priebe report” issued by the European Commission in 2017, which should “also help the country to fulfil its Council of Europe obligations”.
A report on the state of post-monitoring dialogue with “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” should be drawn up in 2018.