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NATO

Statement of EU Spokesperson Irena Guzelova:
Ok, good morning everybody. It is a relatively small gathering, some holidays will be starting soon so perhaps next week may be the last one, but we will see. Otherwise we will be here to answer any questions over the whole season. Basically, I don't have much to say. What has been going on this week in the EU, well, obviously the visa ban list has been announced but that does not affect anybody from Macedonia, and then there is obviously the International Criminal Court, but, I am basically here to answer any questions that you may have, so that is it.

Statement of EUFOR Spokesperson Philippe Soulie:
Good morning everybody, I have not a lot to say this morning. So, as you already know on Friday 27^th, EUFOR received the visit of the EU Military Committee. In the afternoon they met in the Headquarters the MoD delegation. They came in Macedonia to visit Concordia and get a precise situation point on the ongoing activities. With the visit of the MoD delegation they had the general aim of the Government to extend the duration of Concordia's mandate. And that is all from me.

Statement of NATO Spokesperson Craig Ratcliff:
I think, as it has been indicated by Irena when starting the press conference, we are all limited with what we have to say today. Certainly, I am no different. Obviously, a recap., we paid some visits to the border stations last week, the MoD visited last week to Gazela and we had another meeting in Tirana- all related to border management. It is important to keep you informed that we are moving ahead with the border management system and working with your Government in getting that integrated, however, I have no details to give you right now, as it is still in the birth stage and they are working on getting things coordinated. We have made great progress during the early meetings and it looks for the future. We will have another meeting scheduled in Tirana to get more integrated with them in working on border issues.

Statement of OSCE Spokesperson Harald Schenker:
Well, I guess I can be a lot shorter than that, there is literally nothing to say from our side except that of course, should you have any questions.

Question 1: (Makfax) First, is this good or bad that you have nothing to say?
Guzelova: Well, we are basically here to answer your questions. So, go ahead.
Journalist: It is almost two years ahead of the Ohrid road map for Macedonia, do you have something to say on what needs to be done to finish the Ohrid Agreement, within these two years?
Guzelova: Yes, the anniversary is coming up in about five weeks time. Without being too long, because the answer to this kind of question can go on for a long time. No, I think basically there is two sets of laws, isn't there? There are the laws which are connected to decentralization and then there are the laws which are not connected to decentralization. And at the beginning of the year, the Government prepared an Action Plan, whereby all the outstanding laws which are not connected to decentralization would be passed and adopted, at least presented to Parliament, by the end of this session. And indeed, the vast majority of these laws were that there are some outstanding laws which have not been fully prepared, and perhaps, some laws which are not that difficult or controversial such as the law on ombudsman. And that has not been prepared.but all in all, we are pretty much on target and there are talks now about how to deal with the state television and also the law on territorial boundaries. But obviously, one thing is passing the laws and adopting them, the other thing is implementing them. And implementation is going on, but I think the main message is don't stop, continue, don't loose momentum at all because perhaps the world attention has gone to other areas. And that is it, but what we will probably do is prepare some kind of briefing with Alexis nearer to the anniversary.
Schenker: Maybe from our perspective there are two things that we can see as extremely important ones, one is the whole process of decentralization, it is very important to stay on track there, as well as it is important to have a well-worked out plan. It is a sensitive process, and it is, as I said, of high importance that it is worked out really in good details, regarding all its aspects. And maybe one other thing that is not directly linked to the implementation of the Framework Agreement, but rather linked to the situation that we have at the moment for reasons of some actuality, it would be very important to pass the law on refugees and asylum before the summer break, in order to have also the legal framework for trying and solve the situation with the 700 refugees in Medzitlija.
Guzelova: I think the other thing is, I mean, implementation takes time, it is a fairly boring and tedious process, it needs efforts from all sides. It is not just enough to have the political will from one person or two people, it is basically  a much more complex process which involves a lot more people and a lot more organizations, institutions, ministries. And we have seen some direct results of the Framework Agreement, for example, the transmission of the parliamentary programmes in Albanian on the third channel of the state TV and also the conducting of sessions in Albanian in Parliament.  But the basic message is yes, do not loose momentum.

Question 2: (Sitel TV) A question for Mr. Soulie, what do you think about the termination of Concordia's mandate at the end of this year, and the second question is to Ms. Guzelova, what do you think about the Agreement on the ICC, especially in regard to the recommendation for exemption of the US citizens involved in the missions in the Balkans?
Soulie: Concerning the continuation of the mission Concordia, the coalition Government decided to invite EUFOR mission in Macedonia to perform its task in Macedonia until, as you know, mid-December.  Now, the EU is studying the prolongation of the actual mandate of Concordia and would take a decision soon after an official request by the Macedonian Government is submitted to Brussels.
Guzelova: Basically, it is not for us what we think, we would be, and the EU would be responding to a request from the Government. So, as far as the ICC is concerned, the International Criminal Court, I think basically the stance of the EU is, and we have repeated it many times, that the setting up of the International Criminal Court was and is a significant achievement in the development of international law. There has been a number of sort of ad hoc courts dealing with war crimes such as the court in The Hague and in Rwanda, but they are very much on an ad hoc basis and the idea of having this international court is to put these sort of courts on a more permanent footing. And the EU, and its member states worked hard to help establish this court. So, naturally, all member states supported its establishment and expressed this in September last year when it became an issue. And at that time, member states did not exclude the possibility of signing bilateral agreements with the US, but they laid down guidelines according to which such bilateral agreements should be signed.  So, basically, the EU believes that any bilateral agreements should take these guidelines into account. Now, we have not seen the final version of the document which has been signed between Macedonia and the US, and we do not for sure whether these guidelines were adhered to or not. Bu if they were not, obviously it would be regrettable. I mean, basically, the guidelines were aimed at avoiding blanket immunity, that would be immunity for any US citizen, be they tourists or businessmen.  So, often a lot at issue is a scope. That is it.
Journalist: In regards to the first question, it was not only whether the mission would end but what is your assessment on the continuation of the mission based on the request of the Government to end the mission by the end of this year.
Soulie: First, it is not up to us to have an assessment on this issue. But, the IC and EUFOR included will continue to support the coalition Government's hard work to implement the OFA and on this particular subject, the next months are crucial for the implementation of the first phase of the Ohrid Agreement and especially for the weapon collection and the preparation for the decentralized administration.
Guzelova: I think basically there is going to be a security assessment, there is a joint security assessment that will be going on this summer, that is going to be carried out between Concordia, the Government, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, which would give a fairly detailed security analysis of the situation on the ground.  And December is a long time away, so far so good. Things are, yes, there has been an increased number of incidents, they are still incidents, there is no sort of coherent master mind, one single master mind behind it sort of thing, so, so far so good, but December is a long time away.

Question 3 (MTV): Do you have any new information about the situation after the placement of two bombs in Skopje, or the situation in Kumanovo, from the investigation that is.
Guzelova: Well, we are not doing the investigation, the Ministry of Interior is, so I am afraid..
Schenker: In about some one and half hours you may get some new information on the Sopot issue, because as far as we are informed, the Ministry of Interior will have a press conference.

Guzelova: OK, well, that is it.