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Opinion
September 21, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
BALKAN BLOG: Cause for cautious optimism
in the Western Balkans
Clare Nuttall in Bucharest
Looking beyond the angry rhetoric and deep- rooted divisions in the Western Balkans, several recent developments indicate a willingness to compromise as all the states in the region pursue their common goal of EU integration.
There’s cause for cautious optimism about Mac- edonia in particular, ahead of the September
30 referendum on the so-called “name deal”
with Greece. Under the agreement that ends a decades-long dispute between the neighbouring countries, Macedonia is required to change its name to “Northern Macedonia”, a concession few people in the country are happy about, but one that will persuade Athens to stop blocking Mace- donia’s progress towards EU and Nato accession.
Polls show that the majority of Macedonians who are planning to vote in the upcoming referendum will vote yes, but with speculation about an oppo- sition boycott the big question has been whether turnout will reach the 50% plus one voter mark needed for the referendum to be valid. However, after keeping everyone in suspense for weeks, Macedonia’s main opposition party VMRO-DPMNE announced on September 12 that it would leave its supporters to make their own minds up. “Each individual, with their own morals and conscience, will make the decision they consider is the best for their family and for our dear Macedonia,” said party leader Hristijan Mickoski.
This was encouraging given that VMRO, which has a deeply antagonistic relationship with Prime Min- ister Zoran Zaev’s Social Democrats, has a sub-
"Yes" campaigners rally in Skopje ahead of Macedonia's September 30 referendum.
stantial following in the country. Mickoski’s an- nouncement leaves just a band of small rightwing opposition parties, led by the pro-Russian United Macedonia party, pushing for a boycott of the vote. The Macedonian referendum has also become a focus of attention among other states in the re- gion that are also aspiring to EU integration. The presidents of both Albania and Kosovo have called for a yes vote in Macedonia, where around a quar- ter of the population are ethnic Albanians.
Bosnian breakthrough
Any kind of progress is usually off the agenda around election time in Bosnia, as politicians ramp up their ethnically divisive rhetoric to mo- bilise voters, but this year was the exception, as on September 11 lawmakers adopted key amend- ments to the criminal code that had been re- quested by the EU. The EU delegation in Bosnia commented after the vote that the adoption of the changes shows Bosnia has the political will to be a credible partner in fighting serious crime. Ad- mittedly the vote took place under heavy pressure from Brussels, Washington and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia, but it still repre- sents unexpected progress in what is shaping up to be an incendiary pre-election campaign period.
And there was also progress in Kosovo, whose citizens came closer to securing visa free travel to the EU after the European Parliament confirmed the opening of negotiations with the European Council on the issue. This is an important step
for Kosovo. Of all the peoples in the region, only citizens of Kosovo still need a visa to travel to EU