Macedonia Mulls Kosovo Border Agreement
October 16, 2009
Skopje | 16 October 2009 | Sinisa-Jakov Marusic
Macedonia’s Parliament, photo by Ognen Teofilovski
On Friday afternoon, the Macedonian government requested an urgent session of parliament to discuss the ratification of a border agreement with neighbouring Kosovo.
Local media speculate that this will pave the way for establishment of diplomatic ties, which were conditioned by Skopje on resolving the border issue, after it recognised Kosovo’s independence last year.
The signing of the border agreement could happen this weekend or on Monday, A1 TV reported.
The Macedonia-Kosovo border was left unmarked, due to a long-standing spat between Belgrade and Pristina over who has jurisdiction over the Kosovo side of the border.
Following the 1999 NATO military campaign against Serbia, Kosovo became an international protectorate, declaring independence in 2008.
Macedonia recognised Kosovo last year and the two countries subsequently began the process of border demarcation.
The International Civilian Office, ICO, in Kosovo, as the main supervising authority for the implementation of the Ahtisaari status plan for Kosovo, has been intensively engaged in resolving the issue.
Despite the fact that Serbia has no effective control over the Kosovo-Macedonia border, Belgrade still insists that the border delineation should be conducted in conjunction with its officials and not with those from Pristina.
Macedonia has been under pressure to establish diplomatic ties with Kosovo, since one quarter of its population are ethnic Albanians.
On the other hand, Macedonia has strong economic ties with both Serbia and Kosovo and the loss of either would have a significant impact on the local economy.
www.balkaninsight.com
