Roma Democratic Development Association „ Sonce “

Written statements made by Nadir Redzepi to OSCE

Ladies and gentleman,

I use the opportunity to inform you that Macedonia is doing giant steps to approach European Union. As a candidate country since 2005, the government of Macedonia is making efforts to address the problems of corruption, introduces police and judiciary reforms, and many other social and economic reforms in order to accelerate its road towards EU. The implementation of Romani policies is also progressing well, especially within the Decade frame, where Macedonia has moved from 7th to 3rd place, out of nine countries. One of the supporting arguments for this is that if you visit Macedonia you will not see children and women begging on the streets.
Recently the Law on begging is adopted according to which begging is banned. Majority of the population in Macedonia is now living in peace and security because they are protected with law from beggars. After the law was adopted social workers with police support started action of picking up the beggars from the streets and other public places

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Letter to MEPs

Dear Presidents of Political groups in the European Parliament, Regarding the debate on European Roma Strategy that appears on your agenda of the forthcoming January plenary session in Strasbourg , we would kindly appreciate your highest attention on the following points:

• The European Roma Strategy is a necessity as well as priority for the European Union especially after the events that took place in Italy last year. Such strategy should serve the EU as an instrument for prevention of similar developments in other EU member states;

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EC Progress Reports on Western Balkans Countries Rewiev from the Perspective of Minority Rights

On the 6 th of November 2007 Macedonian Prime Minister became a father.But, Macedonian media almost ignored the news. The focus was on the EC Progress Report on Macedonia published the same day. Newspaper headings as “Bravo for the economy, shame for the politics” summarised the Report. Public debates over the Report instantly emerged.
The EC Report receives a lot of political and media interest and its conclusions are widely communicated. The priorities identified are easily embraced by the government, and therefore, for minority rights activists, the Report is a key advocacy tool.

Accordingly, it is important what the Report identifies as progress and what is written as a recommendation.

On this note, a minority rights view on the EC Report on Macedonia follows.

The first concern is that minority issues do not appear prominently in the EC Report

When reading the Report on Macedonia one inevitably notices that generally little space is dedicated to minority rights. This approach appears astonishing bearing in mind that until recently the main EU concern in the region was conflict prevention and resolution. Also, a huge number of Macedonia's population – 35% belongs to minorities. It is hard to think that progress, either economic or political, is possible without a particular regard to minorities. The stability of the country, let alone its prosperity, is influenced by minority issues.

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