FLASH
Shkruar nga Prof.dr. Skënder Asani
If the European perspective continues to remain blocked and the reform process paralyzed by internal political calculations, there is a risk that the country will enter a new phase of strategic uncertainty and a precarious balance between different geopolitical orientations. This is yet another proof of the historical responsibility of Albanian political actors to defend and clearly articulate the principles on which the institutional stability of the state is built.
The latest draft report by the European Parliament rapporteur for North Macedonia, MEP Thomas Weitz, represents a critical moment of reflection on the strategic direction of the country and the sustainability of its European perspective. The document, which is expected to be discussed and amended within the institutional procedures of the European Parliament and in the broader context of the European Union’s enlargement policies, articulates a profound criticism of the reform stagnation, the lack of political will and the structural weaknesses that continue to keep North Macedonia in a prolonged state of suspension in the integration process. Beyond the diplomatic formulations that usually characterize enlargement documents, the report represents a clear alarm signal about the risk of losing the historical momentum of integration and the gradual degradation of the country’s international credibility.
However, a deeper reading of the content of the report and the political context in which it was produced suggests that the integration crisis is not only the result of the stagnation of technical reforms or of internal political polarization. At a deeper level, it is related to the gradual transformation of the political and constitutional architecture built after 2001 on the principles of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. This agreement, which constitutes the basis of interethnic stability and political consensus in the state, aimed to build a balanced institutional system that guarantees fair representation, substantial equality and mutual control mechanisms between the main communities of the state. However, developments in recent years suggest that some of the fundamental components of this architecture are gradually relativizing in institutional practice and in the political culture of governance.
Paradoxically, while European institutions insist on advancing standards of community protection and fulfilling the Copenhagen Criteria, the domestic political reality in the country shows a silent trend towards weakening some of the mechanisms that guaranteed the interethnic balance of the system. Instead of the Ohrid Agreement developing towards deepening policies of substantial equality and mechanisms of positive discrimination for non-majority communities, some of the basic laws that constitute the functional pillars of this agreement are facing processes of relativization, weakening or even gradual suppression in legislative and institutional practice. This development creates a visible contradiction between the formal discourse of European integration and the reality of internal political transformations.
In this sense, the stagnation of the integration process should not be interpreted only as a technical problem of harmonization with the legislation of the European Union, but as a symptom of a broader crisis of institutional functionality and political culture in the country. Reforms in the rule of law, the fight against corruption and the independence of the judiciary continue to remain fragmented and without real transformative effect, producing a persistent perception of the fragility of the legal and political order. In this context, the stagnation of European integration appears as a reflection of the lack of a strategic consensus of the political elites for the long-term direction of the state.
Precisely for this reason, the current phase of the discussion of the draft report in the European Parliament represents an important political and diplomatic moment. Until the final phase of the adoption of the report, the Albanian political entities in the country bear a special historical and institutional responsibility to undertake a coordinated political, academic and diplomatic mobilization in order to reflect in an argumentative manner in the process of amending the document the deviations that have occurred in the implementation of the principles of the Ohrid Agreement. Such an approach does not constitute an internationalization of internal political debates, but a legitimate contribution to a more complete understanding of the institutional reality of the country by the European institutions.
Such mobilization becomes even more necessary in light of the clear positions articulated by the institutions of the European Union and the strategic partners of the region, including the United States of America, regarding the importance of respecting the political agreements that have guaranteed the stability of the Western Balkans region. In the Euro-Atlantic discourse, there is a clear commitment that the agreements reached in the region, which have been the result of complex processes of international mediation, should be treated as fundamental elements of institutional stability and not be relativized through internal political calculations.
In this perspective, the Thomas Weitz report should not be read only as a technical assessment document on the progress of reforms, but as a strategic opportunity to open a deeper debate on the institutional direction of the state. If the final approval process of the report does not also address the dimensions related to the gradual degradation of the consensual architecture built after 2001, there is a risk that the European analysis will remain partial and incomplete. For this reason, a clear articulation of the deviations from the principles of the Ohrid Agreement and the process of the weakening of the mechanisms of substantive equality should become an integral part of the European debate on the democratic progress of the state.
In a broader geopolitical context, this moment also coincides with a sensitive phase of competition for strategic influences in the Western Balkans region. The stagnation of reforms and the strategic uncertainty of political orientation create favorable conditions for the penetration of alternative geopolitical influences, which often do not see European integration as a strategic priority. If the European perspective continues to remain blocked and the reform process paralyzed by internal political calculations, there is a risk that the country will enter a new phase of strategic uncertainty and an uncertain balance between different geopolitical orientations.
Therefore, the current draft report should be interpreted as a weighty political warning for the institutional future of the state. It is not only an assessment document on the progress of reforms, but also an opportunity to bring back to the center of the European debate the respect for the interethnic political contract that has guaranteed the stability of the country for more than two decades. Without a clear return of the political will for real reforms, without full respect for the principles of the Ohrid Framework Agreement and without an undisputed strategic orientation towards the European Union, the integration process risks remaining blocked for a long period. In this sense, the current moment represents not only a test of the credibility of the political elite of North Macedonia, but also a proof of the historical responsibility of Albanian political actors to defend and clearly articulate the principles on which the institutional stability of the state is built.
Lini një Përgjigje