VZCZCXRO0099
RR RUEHAST RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHC #0176/01 1072223
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 162217Z APR 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 9784
INFO ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 040176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE MK
SUBJECT: OSCE PERMANENT COUNCIL:  RESPONSE TO HEAD OF 
MISSION IN SKOPJE AMBASSADOR RADICATI 
 
 ¶1.  Post is authorized to make the following statement at 
the April 17th, 2008 meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in 
Vienna: 
 
Begin Text: 
 
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
 
Ambassador Radicati, welcome back to the Permanent Council. 
 
Often when we discuss countries that have experienced a 
conflict in the last decade, our focus is on helping to 
consolidate security and stability in a transitional 
democracy.  So it is with great pleasure that today we 
instead can discuss a country that since the signing of the 
Ohrid Framework Agreement seven years ago has made tremendous 
strides in developing its multiethnic democratic institutions 
on its path to full Euro-Atlantic integration.  Although the 
pace of reform in Macedonia has varied, its progress has been 
steady and certain.  Its political leadership has remained 
dedicated to their country,s social, economic, and 
democratic development and committed to fulfilling 
Macedonia,s international commitments. 
 
The United States regrets that NATO at the Bucharest summit 
did not issue a membership invitation to Macedonia.  We are 
pleased, however, that Allies at the Bucharest summit agreed 
that Macedonia has met the performance-based standards for 
membership, and that they decided to issue an invitation as 
soon as the name issue is resolved, without tying such a 
decision to future ministerial or summit meetings.  The 
United States hopes a solution can be found through the UN 
process within weeks, not months. 
 
We understand the disappointment that Macedonia,s leadership 
has expressed with regard to the decision at Bucharest and 
welcome its commitment to continue its engagement toward a 
solution to the name issue and to redouble its efforts on the 
reform track. 
 
The OSCE Spillover Monitoring Mission to Skopje has played an 
integral role supporting the Government in its reform 
process. We applaud the OSCE,s continued contributions to 
international community coordination and cooperation in 
Skopje in regular, close consultation with our Embassy, NATO 
representatives, and the EU Special Representative.  We also 
appreciate that Ambassador Radicati and his mission have kept 
the Secretariat and delegations briefed on the political 
situation in the country and the mission,s activities. 
 
In this vein, the U.S. places strong weight on the mission,s 
rule of law programs, which should be continued as a priority 
for the mission this year.  We are pleased with the progress 
made in judicial and police reform and encourage sustained 
efforts in this regard.  We also welcome the willingness of 
the mission to monitor any legal proceedings that could 
result from the return of four files from the International 
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to Macedonian 
jurisdiction.  We also place great store in the mission,s 
continued confidence-building work to deepen cooperation and 
mutual understanding between different political and ethnic 
communities in Macedonia, in the spirit of the Framework 
Agreement. 
 
It is commendable that Ambassador Radicati has been able to 
actively pursue the mission,s programmatic goals in rule of 
law, police reform, public administration reform, and the 
important confidence building measures noted before, while 
simultaneously downsizing the mission and reducing its 
budget.  This is rare among missions, and we appreciate the 
efficiency of the mission,s activities and the transparency 
of its decisions. 
 
We encourage the mission,s continued attention to 
rightsizing to reflect progress made by the country.  In our 
view, Macedonia has made excellent progress in the field of 
media freedom, we believe that now is the time to start 
wrapping up some of the media development programs and start 
handing over program management and funding to government 
bodies.  We do see utility in keeping the field mission in 
Tetovo open for now, as its engagement in confidence building 
activities and monitoring remain productive and useful, but 
note that the phase-out of that field office should begin by 
the end of the year. 
 
In closing, the United States takes note of the decision by 
the Government to hold early parliamentary elections on June 
 
STATE 00040176  002 OF 002 
 
 
1st.  We encourage the Government and political party leaders 
not to delay reform implementation during the election period 
and to work together to ensure that the elections reflect 
Macedonia,s democratic maturity.  We urge ODIHR to begin 
planning for a monitoring mission.  As domestic election 
monitoring NGOs have not budgeted for early elections, we 
also hope that the mission can help host a donors meeting to 
afford local NGOs an opportunity to appeal for funding. 
 
Thank you very much for joining us today, Ambassador Radicati. 
 
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 
RICE