Moving Forward, but More Needs to be Done

13 November 2006

Last Wednesday, November 8, the European Commission released the first Progress Report for Macedonia in its preparations for EU membership since the country was granted the status of candidate country. This is the first report on progress made by this country in preparing for EU membership. The period covered by this report is 1 October 2005 to 30 September 2006.

Progress is measured on the basis of decisions taken, legislation adopted and measures implemented. As a rule, legislation or measures which are under preparation or await Parliamentary approval have not been taken into account. This approach ensures equal treatment across all reports and permits an objective assessment.

The report is based on information gathered and analysed by the Commission. In addition, many sources have been used, including contributions from the government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Member States, European Parliament reports and information from various international and non-governmental organisations.

Overall, the Report concludes that there have been no major violations of civil and political rights, as well as other fundamental rights.
The level of minority rights� protection has remained high. However, there are still a number of areas where implementation of the fundamental rights should be fostered and more needs to be done to improve the legal framework and enhance effective implementation of these rights.

The EC commends the developments towards active involvement of civil society organisations in public policy-making and reforms, for instance, through making proposals for new legislation, as well as the fact that the Government adopted a strategy for co-operation with civil society.

In spite of some positive moves, such as the new Law on Sponsorship and Donations enacted in April, providing tax incentives for donations and sponsorship by a local or foreign legal or physical entity, the Report concludes that the strengthening of civil society requires further coordination between non governmental organisations (NGO) and the public authorities.

The development of the NGOs� activities is still hampered by a lack of resources, which remains a major problem, according to EC. Changes in the criteria for allocating grants from the state budget to NGOs are still needed, so as to better define objectives and avoid non-transparent selection procedures.