President of Honour Van Baalen backs liberals in Macedonia and nation's EU perspective - Hoofdinhoud
Only two weeks after an EU/US-brokered political agreement was reached to end the Macedonian political deadlock, LI President of Honour Hans van Baalen MEP was in the nation’s capital Skopje for meetings with the leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party - LDP (LI full member) and of the united opposition coalition. He called on all to honour the agreement that will democratically transform Macedonia into “a clean state” able “to sign an EU accession agreement while [he] is still Member of the European Parliament.”
At the meetings, at which he was accompanied by the Regional Director Dr Rainer Adam and the Project Director Daniel Kaddik of LI cooperating organisation Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the LI President of Honour emphasised the position and the role of liberals in reaching the political settlement. He spoke of the significance of independent institutions: “Macedonians have to choose whether they want to live in a country like Estonia, my native Netherlands, Denmark or Belgium, which have good small government, good education and independent institutions - so called ‘clean states’, or in a country like Greece of political friends and no independence.” Saying that “it is the role of the new Special Prosecutor to handle all cases related to the wiretapping scandal, both when it comes to the leader of the opposition and the Prime Minister”, Van Baalen added that “for revealing a massive illegal wiretapping one gets a medal, not a jail threat”.
Goran Milevski MP, LDP President spoke of “the great importance” of the visit of Van Baalen to Macedonia due to “the political support for the EU agenda from a vice president of the ALDE Party”. “The Netherlands - led by LI full member VVD - will assume the presidency of the European Union in January 2016; having a leading member of the governing party with a good understanding will certainly have impact on the implementation of the agreed EU reforms in Macedonia”, said Milevski.
The international liberal community has taken an active role in solving the Macedonian political crisis. LI President of Honour paid tribute to the commitment of Ivo Vajgl, the prominent Slovenian diplomat and now ALDE MEP, for being one of the key EU facilitators in the Macedonian political talks.