Skopje’s gateway to the EU and NATO is closing

The elections in Skopje that were attended with violence and violations turned FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) into European and American problem, Greek Ethnos online edition announced. According to the author of the article Macedonia suffered a defeat in disaster dimensions over its prestige in abroad as well as its internal political background. Europeans and Americans plainly have doubts weather Skopje is ready to become EU and NATO member state, the edition pointed out.
New York Times newspaper defined Macedonia as the “new problem child of the Balkans”. According to Ethnos’s article the situation about the name issue dispute with Athens is getting different and Greek foreign policy must use its new opportunities after the elections. There is no more chance for Skopje to join Croatia and Albania and to sigh the agreement for NATO membership on July 9, the edition said.

Nicolas Sarkozy: Naming dispute Athens-Skopje should be solved before any kind of membership

The Greeks can rely on France, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy said speaking from the tribune of the Greek Parliament, the Greek agency ANA-MPA reports.
Sarkozy, who is visiting Athens, said that he wanted to offer Greece a new slogan – ‘Greece-France – a new union’ and confirmed Paris’ support for the Greek positions. Sarkozy outlined that the naming dispute between Athens and Skopje must be solved before any kind of accession of FYROM to the Euro-Atlantic organization.

A Balkan Belgium?

A FASHIONABLE idea is circulating among Balkan-watchers: “Belgianisation”. This is not meant to suggest complex federalism. Instead it implies that different nationalities whom history has left sharing a state are at last behaving like Belgians, reaching for ballot boxes and courts, rather than guns and bombs.

The Macedonian election on June 1st was condemned by observers for not meeting international standards. One person died in a shoot-out with police; several others were injured; and irregularities were reported at several polling stations. Yet it does not disprove the Belgian theory.

A quarter of Macedonia's 2m people are ethnic Albanians. In 2001 they skirted perilously close to civil war. Now, although no love is lost between the two sides, there is no violence between them. The election-day problems and reports of intimidation were entirely among Albanians. That is not good, but also not as bad as it could have been.

Macedonia's election was called after NATO's Bucharest summit in April, when Greece blocked its invitation to join alongside Albania and Croatia. Ever since Macedonian independence in 1991, Greece has tried to stop it being called by its name, insisting that it implies territorial claims to Greek Macedonia. That is why Macedonia labours under the name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, in most international gatherings.

Recently the name issue, which had been dormant, was raised again. Skopje's airport was renamed Alexander the Great, a main reason why the angry Greeks blocked Macedonia's NATO bid. The Greeks now say they will prevent any movement towards European Union accession as well. Macedonia is an official EU candidate but it has not been given a date to start membership negotiations.

Drive into Macedonia from Kosovo and it is clear why the issue needs to be resolved. From the border to the Vardar river, which runs through Skopje, all the election posters have been for Macedonian Albanian political parties, and all flags Albanian. Cross the river and you might be in a different country. All posters are for Macedonian parties and all flags are Macedonian. Once the name is settled, Macedonia can join NATO and later the EU. Nobody could then question its statehood.

If the name continues to poison the region, says Veton Latifi, a political scientist in the main ethnic-Albanian town of Tetovo, politicians will set “new agendas” for the country. By this he really means old ones: a Greater Albania or a Greater Kosovo, and who knows what for the rest of the country. Yet the election gave ground for hope. Nikola Gruevski, prime minister and leader of the centre-right ruling party, gambled on an early poll and won. The coalition led by his party gained an absolute majority in parliament. And though it needs an Albanian partner for comfort, he can “no longer be held hostage” as he was before by his Albanian allies or anyone else, says Ana Petruseva, assistant editor of Balkan Insight, a website.

Three questions arise. Which of the two Albanian parties will Mr Gruevski invite into government? Will he be strong enough to do a deal with Greece over the name and steer it through a referendum? And biggest of all: is Greece interested in a deal or is it happy for its companies to invest profitably in its northern neighbour while keeping it dependent on Greek goodwill for its NATO and EU aspirations? After all, only the EU (and euro) membership holds Belgium together nowadays.

Poll violence could harm Macedonia’s EU bid

Nikola Gruevski, the Macedonian Prime Minister, had an overwhelming election victory on Sunday but the violence that marred it may perpetuate divisions and delay the country’s progress towards EU membership.

Mr Gruevski’s conservative VMRO-DPMNE party will have the healthiest majority in parliament for more than a decade, riding on a wave of nationalist anger over Greece blocking Macedonia’s Nato membership invitation in April.

The victory vindicated Mr Gruevski’s controversial decision to call a snap election but, with one man dead and nine wounded, some observers blamed him for ignoring the risk of violence among the 25 per cent Albanian minority, divided between two hostile parties, both with links to armed groups.

The violence could perpetuate an impression in the West that seven years after the country was pulled back from the brink of ethnic war, the Kalashnikov remains a part of Macedonia’s political process.

“We can expect a very bad report card,” said Dane Taleski, an analyst. “We won’t be getting a date for [EU] accession talks this year.”

Apart from the gunfire, which halted voting in one town, ballot boxes went missing and two election officials were held briefly by gunmen before police rescued them.

EU enlargement commissioner regrets violence in Macedonia

European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said here Monday that he regretted deeply the violence that marred the parliamentary elections in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

"I take note of the OSCE/ODIHR preliminary findings on the elections which took place yesterday, in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," he said in a statement.

"I deeply regret the violence which marred the elections" on Sunday, "A day which should have been a peaceful demonstration of democratic values resulted instead in the loss of a life as well as injury to several people," he said.

Rehn quoted the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission as reporting that that key international standards were not met in the election.

"Organized violence, intimidation and ballot stuffing in many places prevented citizens from exercising their democratic rights. The selective application of the law by the state authorities was also a serious concern," he noted.

Rehn urged the Macedonian authorities to "address these findings and the recommendations which shall follow" and "to duly investigate all reported incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice."

He welcomed Macedonian Prime Minister Nicola Gruevski's commitment to hold a re-run of the election in all the polling stations where there was violence and disorder.

"It is imperative that these re-runs are held in line with international standards," he said, promising that the EU was firmly committed to the European perspective of Macedonia.

He stressed that holding free and fair elections "is an essential part of the political criteria of the EU accession process."

Macedonia's Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won a landslide victory on Sunday in the country's first early election since the country gained independence in 1991.

The VMRO-DPMNE party led by Gruevski had won 48.13 percent of the votes, far ahead of the Social Democrats' 22.19 percent, with votes from 82 percent of polling stations counted, according to the state electoral commission.

The Democratic Party of Albanians led by Menduh Thaci garnered 10.13 percent, while the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Independence got 11.26 percent.

Macedonia, keen to join the EU and NATO, is seeking to launch talks on EU entry and an invitation to join NATO.

Country name dispute with Greece aborted Macedonia's bid to join NATO in April, when NATO invited Croatia and Albania to join in Bucharest, Romania.

Violence mars Macedonia poll

Macedonia's hopes of speedy Nato and EU membership were dealt a major blow when its parliamentary elections were hit by widespread violence.

At least one person was killed and several others wounded in gunbattles across the country.

The polling was also hit by allegations of fraud, intimidation and ballot box stuffing.

Most of the violence was between ethnic Albanians, whose two political parties have in recent years descended into a bitter feud. It forced Macedonia's electoral commission to suspend voting in up to 20 polling stations.

The bloodshed is a embarrassment for the Balkan nation, which came within a whisker of civil war in 2001. It was hoping flawless elections would prove its readiness to join the EU and Nato.

Instead, British MP Denis MacShane, who is an observer at the election, said results had been fatally compromised by the violence.

"No government can be formed as a result of this election," he said.

"New polls must be organised in all the districts where violence, intimidation and stuffing of ballot boxes have taken place."

The polls had been called two years early by conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in the wake of Macedonia's failure to secure Nato membership earlier this year.

Greece blocked Macedonia's Nato bid in April, after the two countries failed to find a solution to their long running dispute over the name Macedonia.

Ancient Macedonia, the homeland of Alexander the Great, stretched over territory which now falls largely within the borders of Greece and its northern neighbour.

Italy supports Macedonia for quick EU and NATO entrance

New Italian Government will do everything in its power for Macedonia, along with Croatia, to soon join the European Union, Italian MEP Marcello Vernova said Thursday in Skopje after meeting Vice-Premier Zoran Stavreski.

- Silvio Berlusconi is Nikola Gruevski's great friend and the new Italian Government will support Macedonia on its road to the EU, NATO. New Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is also Macedonia's friend. Berlusconi will urge Sarkozy, Merkel and Aznar to support Macedonia and recognize the excellent results achieved by Gruevski's Government in meeting the European criteria, Vernova said, adding that a new group of Italian businessmen will visit Macedonia next month.

For Vernova, Macedonia is a prosperous country with a stable government, economy - something that attracts Italian businessmen to invest in the spheres of their interest, such as energy, environment, real estate and tourism.

Vernova announced that the new Italian Government would grant financial support to Macedonia for modernization of the public administration.

Macedonia's future in EU, NATO

The electoral campaign gets under way in Macedonia today.

“We’ve had well-organized elections up to now, and we’ve shown that we can do it. So, it’s not a question of if we can, but whether we sincerely want to, and whether the political will and a sense of responsibility for the future of our country exist,” said Crvenkovski.

The Macedonian president added that irregular elections would be a retrograde step to the only real option for Macedonia—NATO and the EU--and called on citizens to protect their vote, and thus the state.

The former leader of the biggest opposition party, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), claimed that, as at the previous elections, he would remain impartial.

“It’s good and important for the SDSM that this young leadership faces up to its own responsibility and this test of political maturity,” he said.

Regarding the talks with Greece over the “name” dispute, Crvenkovski reiterated that the elections would hamper the negotiating process, and that the status quo played into Greece’s hands.

The president added that “Macedonia cannot afford to err or give in to pressure and provocation from the Greek side, by responding with unreasonable moves that will primarily exacerbate economic relations.”

He said that the document on strategic cooperation with the U.S., recently signed in Washington, was further confirmation of the consolidation of mutual trust, but should not be viewed as an alternative to NATO membership.

EU hopes to start negotiations on Macedonian membership bid in '08

The European Union said Wednesday it hopes accession talks with Macedonia can start this year but said the Balkan nation needs to make further reforms.

Janez Lenarcic, State Secretary for European Affairs from Slovenia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, told the European Parliament that administrative reform and minority rights issues had to be resolved first. Macedonia has been a candidate for membership since 2005.

"Stability is a decisive factor in this region," said Lenarcic.

His comments came as Macedonia's ruling conservative party said Wednesday it would support a motion to dissolve parliament, signaling an early general election.

"The political crisis, early elections, perhaps these are things that will slow down the reform process," Lenarcic said. He said he counted on the country's citizens to "remain united and work toward a common future within the EU and trans-Atlantic organizations."

The earliest Macedonia could start negotiating with the EU is at the end of the year, after the EU's executive Commission reports on the country's progress.

Lenarcic said Macedonia's name dispute with Greece, which cost it an invitation to join NATO at a summit last week, had to be resolved as soon as possible.

Greece blocked Macedonia's invitation to NATO on the grounds that the country's name implies a territorial claim to a northern Greek province called Macedonia.

Lenarcic said the EU would like to see Macedonia as a NATO member alongside Albania and Croatia, who were both invited.

Dutch lawmaker Erik Meijer, who drafted a separate report for the European Parliament on Macedonia's progress, called on Skopje to grant ethnic Albanians full language rights.

In the report, he said discrimination against the Roma — another large ethnic minority in the country — continued in education, health care, employment and housing.

To join the bloc, EU candidates must be democracies, have functioning market economies and a clean human rights record.

Greece says "could veto Skopje's EU bid as well"

After preventing Macedonia's NATO membership bid, Athens says its wants the name talks continued.

"Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis repeated yesterday his invitation to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to resume talks but added that if the two countries could not settle their name dispute, Athens is prepared to block Skopje’s bid to join the European Union as well as NATO," the daily Kathimerini reported.

Speaking at the end of the NATO summit in Bucharest, Karamanlis insisted that the "use of Greece’s veto to stop FYROM joining NATO was not the end of the matter".

“We want to support the Euro-Atlantic and European course of FYROM but the name issue has to be settled,” he said at a press conference. “We have covered our fair share of ground, now the other side has to move too.”

According to the daily, the prime minister said that Greece wanted to continue negotiations with Skopje under the auspices of the United Nations and made it clear that Athens has a very clear idea of what it wants from the talks.

“Our position is clear – a straightforward, composite name erga omnes (toward all).”

Karamanlis added that it was a “useful tool” for Greece that NATO agreed that the name dispute had to be resolved before Skopje could make another bid to join the alliance, "thereby making the issue more than just a bilateral squabble".

“I never felt isolated and I think that as of yesterday, the understanding of our position has widened,” he added.

There was no response yesterday from Skopje to Karamanlis’s offer to resume talks, the newspaper said. Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos predicted that"it would take some time for emotional reaction in FYROM to settle down".

Kathimerini also said that "at least two Greek businessmen in Skopje claimed their property was damaged following Athens’s use of the veto".

Greece Ready to Veto Macedonia for EU As Well

Greece is ready to impose a veto on Macedonia's EU membership negotiations as it already did on its NATO membership invitation if the name dispute between the two states is not resolved.

This statement was made by the Greek PM Konstantinos Karamanlis, the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini reported.

However, Karamanlis has also confirmed his invitation to the Macedonian leaders for the continuing of the negotiations on the name issue.

According to Ekathimerini, Greece would like to carry on negotiating with Macedonia under the aegis of the UN, and had clearly stated its position.

There has been no reply to the Green invitation from Skopje as the Macedonia's Foreign Ministry Speaker has said it would take a while for the emotions to cool down after Greece blocked the country's accession to NATO during last weeks' Summit in Bucharest.

Greece disputes Macedonia's name because one of its northern region has the same name. It has already blocked Macedonia's recognition by the UN under its constitutional name, and that is why the latter is recognized by the world organizations as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Presidency Urges Macedonia to Stick to NATO, EU Goal

The Slovenian EU presidency has called on Macedonia "not to lose sight of its strategic national goal of joining the Euro-Atlantic integrations" in view of the decision at the NATO summit in Bucharest, which failed to invite the country to join the alliance because of the name issue with Greece.

The goal of joining the EU and NATO "is essential for country's future, as well as of great importance for the entire region," the presidency states in a press release.

The presidency commends the country for its efforts to pursue reforms, to contribute to regional stability and to build a multiethnic society. It regrets that negotiations on the name issue have not yet produced a successful outcome and urges resumption of talks without delay.

It moreover calls on all political leaders in the country to remain united behind the national consensus on joining the EU and NATO, and to "use well the time available before the autumn Progress Report to intensify reforms in order to meet the conditions necessary towards opening of accession negotiations later this year".

EU urges Macedonia to find solution in name dispute

The Slovenian EU presidency urged Macedonia on Saturday to make progress in finding a solution in the dispute over the Balkan country's name. The EU "regretted" that the negotiations over the future name of the EU candidate country had not led to a solution, Slovenia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a statement.

The presidency urged the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) not to to lose sight of its strategic goal of joining the EU and NATO, which was "essential for the country's future, as well as of great importance for the entire region."

"Talks should now be resumed without delay, with the aim of being concluded sooner rather than later," Slovenia said.

Greece and Macedonia have been in dispute over the latter's name since 1991, when Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Greece says that the name implies a territorial claim on its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

Leading politicians from both Macedonia's government and opposition were urged to continue efforts to pursue Euro-Atlantic integration before the upcoming progress report in the autumn, in order for accession negotiations to be opened later this year.

Presidency urges Macedonia to stay EU accession course

The European Union presidency urged Macedonia Friday not to give up on EU accession, after the former Yugoslav republic was denied entry into NATO.

"The decision at (the) Bucharest NATO summit should not put that future under question," the EU's Slovenian presidency said in a statement.

It called on Macedonia to "intensify reforms in order to meet the conditions necessary towards opening of (EU) accession negotiations later this year."

Macedonia wants to join both the EU and NATO, however its bid to join the 26-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance was blocked by EU member Greece in a long-running row over the right to the name Macedonia, which is shared by a northern Greek province.

Macedonia stormed out of Bucharest on Thursday in protest after Greece used its veto.

The EU presidency, which Slovenia holds until handing over to France for the second half of this year, called on the former Yugoslav republic "not to lose sight of its strategic national goal of joining the Euro-Atlantic integrations".

It said these were "essential for the country's future, as well as of great importance for the entire region".

Regretting the name row, the statement said talks should be resumed "without delay," amd commended Macedonia for its efforts to "pursue reforms, to contribute to regional stability and to build a multi-ethnic society".

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis invited Macedonia to fresh talks over its name hours after Greece used its NATO veto.

"Greece's goal is not to humiliate (Macedonia), but to bolster it as a country that is trying to stand on its feet," he said in a speech at the Greek embassy in the Romanian capital.

Macedonia's constitutional name is the Republic of Macedonia. Skopje wants this used in international relations, except with Athens, where a name acceptable to both parties would be found.

The last word: Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)

Macedonia's government is ready to ask parliament to consider a new name for the country to end a dispute with Greece and clear the way for it to begin NATO membership talks, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said yesterday.

Referring to a United Nations mediator's suggestion that the former Yugoslav republic change its name to Republic of Macedonia (Skopje), he said: "After 15 years of talks we think that this proposal is final in this process."

Milososki declined to say whether his government accepted the compromise name but said parliament would probably discuss the proposal on Monday.

It would be the first time a proposed name change has made it as far as the national assembly. It was not clear if Greece would accept the name as a compromise.

Pressure to resolve the dispute has intensified on the eve of a NATO summit in Romania next week, at which Balkan states Croatia, Albania and Macedonia are to be considered for membership of the Western alliance.

Greece threatens to veto Macedonia's move unless it changes its name, which is the same as Greece's northernmost province.

NATO and the European Union are eager to see a solution to the dispute for the sake of stability in the Balkans.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn voiced hope yesterday that the dispute would be settled soon.

Greece Threatens to Block Macedonia EU, NATO Entry

Greece will not allow its northern neighbour Macedonia to join NATO or the European Union until a dispute over its name is settled, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said on Friday.

Karamanlis, speaking before United Nations-led talks between the two countries in New York later in the day, told parliament that only a solution acceptable to both sides would lead Athens to lift its objections.

Greece has rejected the name Macedonia ever since the state broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, saying it implies territorial ambitions against Greece's own northern province of Macedonia, birthplace of Alexander the Great.

"I want to be very clear on this. The intransigence of our neighbour is dashing its ambitions to join NATO and the European Union," Karamanlis said. "If there is no settlement, the neighbouring country cannot aspire to join NATO. Our position 'no solution-no invite' is clear."

U.N. envoy Matthew Nimetz has proposed five possible new names for Macedonia. He will start a new round of talks with both sides on Friday at the United Nations in New York in the hope of resolving the dispute before a NATO summit in April.

Macedonia, which hopes for an invitation at the summit to join NATO, uses its name in bilateral ties with many countries, but is called "The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" at the United Nations, and by NATO and the European Union.

Protesters stoned the Greek representative office in Skopje this week, the second such incident in a fortnight, chanting anti-Greek slogans and singing the national anthem.

Greeks will stage two rallies next week in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

A Toast to Tradition

A favorite spirit may be threatened when Macedonia begins negotiating for EU membership.

LISICE, Macedonia | As the distillation process ends and the homemade brandy called rakija drips into a pot, all of Stojan’s neighbors gathered in his back yard, waiting to taste the fresh liquor.

“Cheers!” they shouted in a chorus, celebrating the old Macedonian tradition of producing the brandy. “It’s a really strong one, pure and warming,” Stojan, 62, concluded after taking a sip of his new batch.

The brandy, which is distilled mostly in private homes, is made from fermented grapes and usually contains about 50 percent alcohol. For Macedonians, the joy of rakija is as much in its production as it is in the drinking. Producers often invite friends to taste the product, spurring neighborhood parties. The liquor is considered the national drink among many countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Some Macedonians make a living or supplement their incomes by selling the brandy produced at home, especially in wine regions such as Tikves in the south. But the brandy’s production may diminish when Macedonia begins negotiating for European Union membership. Talks could begin as early as late 2008.

According to EU standards, alcohol production must be licensed, and homemade products put up for sale must carry a tax. Macedonia plans to begin complying with these standards when accession talks begin.

The majority of rakija producers in Macedonia distill in their own kitchens or yards, and they currently pay no tax to the government for their sales. Many are unaware that EU standards would make their unregulated operations illegal. The government has yet to spread the word.

The homemade brandy is popular in other countries in the Balkans and southeastern Europe. When Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007, protests were staged in front of the Parliament in Sofia to demand that rakija not be taxed. There have also been discussions on the topic on Internet forums set up in Serbia, another EU hopeful. Some respondents radically claimed they would prefer dying to joining the EU, mainly because of limitations on traditions like homemade alcohol.

“We don’t like the EU anymore. Why do we need so many limitations and standards that only complicate our lives and contribute towards the loss of our culture and spirit as Macedonians?” said Stojan, who gave only his first name.

Rakija isn’t the only product under threat. Regulations will also be placed on homemade wines and cheeses put up for sale. Moreover, the killing of animals for food in private homes will be forbidden.

According to the European Commission, killing outside slaughterhouses “is restricted to a very limited number of circumstances, such as disease control.” What’s more, “approved methods” of killing must be used in those limited circumstances. All meat for human consumption, however, must come from licensed slaughterhouses.

These laws are violated in many EU countries, where traditions frequently trump health or agricultural regulations, but people risk being caught and fined if they sell their unregulated products or slaughter animals.

Macedonia doesn’t have official data about the number of people producing and selling domestic food products. But so ingrained is the tradition of home production that the numbers are easily in the thousands.

Many people interviewed said they were unaware that their way of life may change soon. They worry that the EU standards will smother their cultural and economic traditions.

NO ONE’S BEEN TOLD

Bojan, 58, from the village of Dracevo, hadn’t heard of the looming EU standards. He started to cry when he learned that he would not be allowed to slaughter animals for food or produce his own milk and dairy products for sale.

He lost his job as a locksmith 10 years ago, Bojan said, and home production is what now brings food to his family’s table. Other, modest income comes from Bojan’s work in nearby fields his father left to him when he died. Bojan had to take out a loan to get a tractor to work the fields.

In his back yard, Bojan raises chickens, goats, pigs, and a cow. He uses the animals to feed his family, and he sometimes sells some eggs, milk, and meat to others. With the money he makes he buys other goods his family needs.

“We will starve to death if this happens,” Bojan said of the coming regulations. “I’ve lost my job once, and this is the only way to secure food for my family.” He added that he had thought life would be better if his country entered the EU.

Other Macedonians who hadn’t heard about the regulations refused to believe it, calling it a joke. They said they will continue to make products or purchase them from neighbors.

“We won’t give up the rakija … the honey, the incredible domestic cheese – EU or no EU”, says Lidija, 29, from Skopje.

“This practically means that besides gaining the possibility to travel freely [without a visa], everything else is just too much bureaucracy,” she added, referring to the benefits of EU accession. The right to visa-free travel in the EU is a perk many Macedonians are looking forward to, though it could be years in the making.

The government doesn’t have a campaign planned to inform the citizens about the changes that will occur once EU negotiations start. Officials admitted that the campaign has been delayed in part because of the possibility that there will be negative reactions from the citizens, as there were in Bulgaria.

However, officials also claim that like it or not, the clock is ticking.

“We purposely delayed the solving of this issue because the tradition of domestic production is a several-centuries-old tradition,” said Zivko Jankulovski, the government’s vice president for agriculture and education. “However, very soon we will have to start dealing with it.”

Jankulovski emphasized that not all domestic production will not be banned. Although killing animals for meat will be forbidden, other production will just be regulated.

People will be allowed to produce rakija in their homes, for instance, if they have a license to do so. They can sell it so long as they follow new tax requirements.

“There also will be some trainings and exams connected to the right of producing your own alcoholic drink,” Jankulovski said.

Which of the government ministries will be in charge of conducting an information campaign remains a mystery, but it likely will be the Agriculture or Economy ministries.

HARD ROAD AHEAD

Jankulovski said it will be very difficult to boost public awareness of the issue and to calm down the people it upsets. Moreover, it will be a challenge to change people’s habits and force them to stop their home production or license and tax it.

Experts have said that the introduction of EU standards may have negative side effects, like increasing poverty in some regions where people currently rely on domestic food production for extra income. If the regulations force them out of business or they choose to bow out on their own for fear of being caught, their income could be lost.

“Agricultural workers are quite often forced to produce and sell domestic rakija because there are not enough wineries to buy out the grapes that they produced,” said one agricultural expert, who spoke on condition on anonymity. “Similar conditions are present in stockbreeding.”

But some experts have also said there are dangers in domestic production that the EU standards will help alleviate.

Unregulated stockbreeding allows animals slaughtered for meat to go unvaccinated, raising concerns that people will consume tainted meat. Similarly, unregulated production of alcohol and dairy products put up for sale presents health risks associated with poor or contaminated ingredients.

Stojan said that while the government should tell people about the new standards, he won’t worry until Macedonia is an EU member – a development that is years away.

“I’ll make my rakija until someone comes in my house and reads the standards,” Stojan declared with a laugh. “But first I’ll let authorities try my homemade rakija and then let them read my obligations.”

Watching his friends celebrate his brandy, he added: “I’ll live for today.”

'No Timelines' In Macedonia Dispute

Macedonia's President Branko Crvenkovski says that there is no timeline for solving "the name dispute" with Greece.

After meeting the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Crvenkovski dismissed that claims that Skopje is under pressure to quickly reach a solution to the dispute.

"Negotiations on the name issue started by taking into consideration two things - firstly, no imposed solution, and secondly there are no timelines," Crvenkovski said.

Referring to threats from Greece that it might veto Macedonia's bid to join NATO at the alliance's Bucharest summit in April if no solution is found, Solana said he "doesn’t like vetos."

"I hope very much that solution is found during negotiations in New York," Solana added.

Solana also confirmed that regional issues were discussed at the meeting with the Macedonian President.

Crvenkovski suggested that Brussels can count on Skopje’s support for the EU's new law and order mission which is due to take over the United Nations administration in Kosovo.

He also added the EU had a role to play in helping Macedonia and Kosovo demarcate their shared border.

"We support the Ahtisaari plan among other things since it had a precise solution for the demarcation of our borders with Kosovo," Crvenkovski said, referring to the blueprint for Kosovo's 'supervised independence' devised by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari. The plan is set the become the basis of Kosovo's new constitution.

"As a partner for solving this issue we don’t look only to Pristina but also to the EU which is present in Kosovo," he concluded.

No "Greater Albania" wave seen from Kosovo

Kosovo Albanian independence from Serbia will boost the confidence of Albanians in neighboring Macedonia, but prospects of EU membership will outweigh dreams of a "Greater Albania", political leaders say.

Albanians form a 90 percent majority in Kosovo, which is set to declare independence on Sunday. Macedonia's Albanians are a 25 percent minority.

Ethnic Albanian leaders say the best insurance against Macedonia breaking up in ethnic conflict as it nearly did in 2001 is the country's membership in NATO soon and in the European Union in a few years.

"Why talk about building or removing classical borders when Europe has drawn lessons from its old conflicts and decided to build a joint future for its states?" said Ali Ahmeti, head of Macedonia's main Albanian political party.

"We love this country as much as the Macedonians love it," he told Reuters. "Long-term stability in Macedonia will be achieved by solving the problem of Albanians living in Kosovo. It is a victory for us, too.

In 2001, Ahmeti led a 6-month uprising which came close to igniting full-scale civil war, before NATO and the EU brokered peace talks that resulted in more rights for Albanians.

Fears mounted during that period that Albanians were gearing up for a fight to unite all the lands they live in Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, with the republic of Albania. The mountainous borders between them are porous, and weapons left over from Albania's paranoid Stalinist dictatorship abound.

But opportunities offered by a common future in the EU and the NATO alliance seem to have overtaken the old dream of a single ethnic Albanian state.

Macedonia won’t join EU and NATO with hatred towards neighbors

Macedonian authorities obviously could not understand that with such deliberate hatred which was bred among the population against the neighboring states they had no place in the EU and most probably on April 4th Macedonia would not be invited to join NATO, National History Museum Director Prof Bozhidar Dimitrov said for FOCUS News Agency provoked by an anti-Bulgarian article published in Macedonian paper Utrinski Vesnik. According to the article Bulgaria didn’t take into consideration the Macedonian identity. With such demonstration of hatred by Macedonian media the state would be hardly accepted, Prof Dimitrov said.