VZCZCXRO5142
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSQ #0950/01 3401032
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061032Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6777
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0116
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3720

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000950 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL NATO MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: CONTINUED MOMENTUM ON MAY 29 AGREEMENT 
IMPLEMENTATION 
 
REF: A. SKOPJE 875 
 
     ¶B. SKOPJE 941 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1. (SBU)  A little more than six months after concluding the 
US/EU-brokered five-point May 29 agreement (ref A), governing 
VMRO and opposition DUI finally are taking concrete steps 
toward implementing it.  On December 3, Parliament adopted 
the legislative proposals included in the agreement (ref B). 
VMRO's representative on the parliamentary Inter-ethnic 
Affairs Committee (IEC) then resigned, allowing for 
reconstitution of that committee and meeting another of the 
May 29 agreement conditions.  In the joint VMRO-DUI working 
groups on the other two key points of the agreement -- a 
draft language law and a social benefits package for victims 
of the 2001 conflict -- there are signs that a more pragmatic 
approach might be gaining ground.  We will push both sides to 
build on the spirit of compromise that characterized the 
first week of December in an effort to resolve the social 
benefits package issue by the end of the year, and to make 
steady progress on a draft language law that could be 
submitted to the parliament for consideration by early 2008. 
End summary. 
 
MAY 29 AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION - TWO IN ONE BLOW... 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Overcoming a months-long impasse in the 
implementation of the US/EU-brokered May 29 agreement between 
governing VMRO and opposition DUI, the leaders of the 
governing and opposition parties met November 30 to hammer 
out compromises on two of the five points in that agreement 
(ref A).  On December 3, the Parliament quickly passed the 
draft law on the parliamentary Inter-ethnic Affairs Committee 
(IEC).  This bill also included the agreed list of laws 
requiring qualified (Badinter) majority voting for any future 
amendments, another point in the May 29 agreement.  VMRO's 
representative on the IEC then stepped down, allowing for 
that committee to be reconstituted and meeting another of the 
conditions in the May 29 agreement. 
 
VICTIMS OF CONFLICT WORKING GROUP - INTRANSIGENCE GIVES WAY 
TO GREATER PRAGMATISM... 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Building on the positive momentum, the VMRO-DUI 
working group on a compensation package for victims of the 
2001 conflict met the evening of December 3.  Despite having 
reached a deadlock on the issue in an earlier meeting in 
October, the group moved toward a resolution of the issue in 
brief but substantive discussions.  DUI opened the talks by 
restating the party's demand for a law on former NLA fighters 
that would formally codify the compensation package and would 
give the former insurgent fighters the same status as former 
Macedonian military and police members who took part in the 
2001 fighting. (Note: The DUI demand for a new law is a 
non-starter for the government and is contrary to the terms 
of the May 29 agreement, as we have made clear in our 
conversations with DUI leaders. End note.)  Sensing immediate 
and resolute pushback, the DUI delegation then adopted a more 
conciliatory stance and pledged to provide to VMRO a list of 
those persons who DUI believes would qualify for the 
compensation package.  EUSR representatives who monitored the 
working group later pushed DUI to provide the list within a 
week, to capitalize on the positive momentum. 
 
LANGUAGE LAW WORKING GROUP - TRYING TO SQUARE THE CIRCLE... 
 
¶4. (SBU) In a meeting of the VMRO-DUI working group on the 
law on languages the evening of December 4, both sides 
managed to move from strictly legalistic arguments regarding 
what the Constitution and the Framework Agreement (FWA) 
guarantee in terms of language use rights, to a more 
pragmatic discussion of common elements in their positions. 
With both sides having failed to budge from diametrically 
opposed legal arguments in earlier meetings, DUI's delegation 
chair, Musa Xhaferi, conceded during the December 4 meeting 
that the parties' "fundamental differences" in interpreting 
the FWA and the Constitution as they relate to the use of 
language were "insurmountable." 
 
 
SKOPJE 00000950  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) Following Xhaferi's comments, Deputy Prime Minister 
Stavreski presented a more conciliatory VMRO position. He 
suggested that the working group work to identify several 
points of agreement on the practical use of the Albanian 
language, which then could be discussed in the parliament. 
Stavreski also suggested a more general formulation along the 
lines of "Both parties agree that Albanian could be used in 
communication with the local authorities and with the local 
branches of the central government.  Every other use of the 
Albanian language would be considered a matter of individual 
rights and would be addressed accordingly." 
 
¶6. (SBU) Another VMRO suggestion was to publicly agree that 
the FWA and the Constitution intended for a "tripartite 
gradation" of languages in Macedonia; in other words, using 
Macedonian as the "official language," Albanian as a "service 
language," and all other minority languages as "service 
languages" in certain situations.  DUI did not agree with the 
VMRO formulation, although it does not dispute the notion of 
the "tripartite gradation" presented by VMRO.  The group 
agreed that both sides would think about ways to refine the 
VMRO formulation and to present the alternatives at the next 
working group, scheduled for December 19.  An 
uncharacteristically sentimental Xhaferi said that DUI 
realized that the language law was a sensitive political 
issue, but added that "if we are to do this thing, it will be 
with VMRO and nobody else, because VMRO is a pragmatic 
player." 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶7. (SBU)  The positive momentum generated by the November 30 
leaders meeting and the December 3 parliamentary approval of 
the May 29 legislation provides a good foundation for moving 
ahead on the remaining two key points in the May 29 
agreement, and we will try to capitalize on it for the 
remainder of the year.  We will work with our EUSR colleagues 
to push the social benefits package working toward resolution 
by the end of 2007, and will keep the pressure on the 
language working group to produce a draft law for 
parliamentary consideration by early 2008.  In the latter 
case, we will work with both VMRO and DUI to identify areas 
of agreement in their respective versions of a draft language 
law, and to build on those areas to produce a draft that is 
60-70% agreed before they submit it for parliamentary 
consideration. 
MILOVANOVIC