Interview (Utrinski Vesnik)

[nwmedia]

The expert in Balkan affairs, Nicholas Whyte, speaks in his interview with Utrinski Vesnik on the events related to the awarding of the EU candidate status to Macedonia. Asked if EU should give Macedonia the candidate status, he said, “I believe that Macedonia did everything requested by the EU to receive the candidate status. And this is not only my opinion; it is said by the European Commission. If Macedonia does not receive a candidate status this week, it will only be a postponement of several months, however, in my opinion, that would be a postponement for wrong reasons”. Asked how slow the integration of Macedonia will be after the announcements of Olli Rehn that the integration of the Western Balkan countries would be slower than that of the last 10 countries, Whyte said that Macedonia is obviously behind Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, but he personally expects that it gets admitted before Turkey. The candidate status for Macedonia means that it will be transferred to the same financial framework as Croatia and Turkey. Given Whyte’s statement that the isolation of the Balkan countries from the EU would be a recipe for destruction, and given the scepticism of France, the Netherlands and other countries regarding the additional EU enlargement, Whyte was asked whether Macedonia could expect new obstacles on the road. “Life is unpredictable. Well, I guess there will always be new obstacles. Certainly now we are in a different and less certain environment, compared to that before, before the referendums in France and the Netherlands”, Whyte said, adding that all was linked to the budget. Asked if he believed that regular and democratic elections could take place given the current political situation in Macedonia, he said that many things depended on the implementation of the new electoral code. Among the reforms that needed priority Whyte stressed that at the moment most probably the most important are the electoral and judicial reforms. Asked if the EU will ensure economic progress of the new member countries or egoism takes over the place of solidarity in the EU, Whyte replied, “I deem that the economic support for the new member countries will definitely be smaller than that given to Greece, Portugal and Spain. All policies are a balance between selfishness and altruism. Maybe now we notice a shift of that balance”.
Source: Utrinski Vesnik