Distinguished Chairman,

Distinguished panelists,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be speaking today at the Munich Conference, surely the most important annual forum on security and foreign policy. Coming from the Republic of Macedonia - a country from the Western Balkans -
I will try to give a specific contribution to our joint discussion, a view regarding the issues that are significant for the stability of my country and the region as a whole.

I want to begin with a short discussion of where we have been, and the direction we must take in the future so that we - both individual states and institutions such as NATO and the E.U. can finally bring a permanent, lasting peace in what has been a volatile region of Europe. It is a tragic part of our past that the first and last wars of the 20th century both started in the Balkans. We now have an unprecedented opportunity to consolidate democratic gains that can usher in a new era of lasting peace, stable democracies and prosperity in an area that history, with the words of our Chairman today, had “otherwise reserved for instability, conflicts and great power rivalry.” We now have an opportunity to complete Europe,
if all of us have the political will to take the final steps necessary for integrating the entirety of the Balkan region into Europe and Euro-Atlantic institutions.

Thomas Mann, only one of the many great minds who lived in Munich, said that “war is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.” The Macedonian people have never escaped from their problems. Rather, we have learned to face them. There is no doubt that the engagement of the international community in the country (through the key international factors, the first preventive mission in the UN history-UNPREDEP and OSCE) had a significant role in the prevention of spilling over of the wars from the rest of former Yugoslavia. The Republic of Macedonia has remained throughout this entire period, a stability factor in the region, playing a key role in the logistic and other kinds of support to the engagement of the international community in Kosovo during the 1999 crisis, which is today also present in the form of logistic support to the KFOR activities.  

We have managed to overcome the 2001. If there were NATO small scale deployments as well as the first EU peacekeeping mission ever on our territory back then, there have been Macedonian military deployments in ISAF and ALTHEA since. “Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means” said President Ronald Reagan. Through the implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement we devolved political power to local administrators and ensured that our national and local governments reflected our ethnic mix, developing a functional multiethnic democracy.

The Republic of Macedonia passed and implemented strict anti-corruption laws and overhauled our military so that it could easily integrate itself into NATO’s infrastructure. Macedonians continue to seek membership in NATO and EU because it is a natural expression of our shared values, commitment to freedom and respect for individual rights and the rule of law. 

It is unfortunate that, despite meeting all NATO requirements and receiving recognition from NATO for our military, political, and social reforms, the Macedonian NATO invitation was placed on indefinite “hold”.  The reason for leaving more than two million people outside NATO’s sphere of freedom, security and democracy?  Our constitutional name.  The assertion by Greece that the Republic of Macedonia threatens their national sovereignty is simply not true. We have changed our constitution and our national flag to meet their concerns and we remain committed to working with them on a compromise.
“Undoubtedly it is correct to say that Europe thrives on its diversity” said Chancellor Angela Merkel and concluded that the quality that enabled Europeans to make the most of diversity is tolerance. “Europe's soul is tolerance.” But is Europe’s diversity possible without freedom? How to explain to the Macedonian people that their entry in the European home, a home of diversity of identities, will cost them their freedom to express who they are? Will cost them their identity?

The real-world consequences of Greece’s objection to Republic of Macedonia run counter to strengthening regional security and stability and impede the effectiveness of NATO at a time when all our collective efforts need to be directed at confronting threats such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.   A Macedonia in NATO will assist in the stabilization of Kosovo and make the alliance—including Greece—stronger and more secure.
The security and stability of the Western Balkans clearly and undeniably lie in NATO and EU. As the Western Balkan region is coming out of the post-conflict stage on the way towards a sustainable development, the European and Euro-Atlantic integration is ever more considered a factor that connects the parties sharing a common goal. All countries in the region are, to a various extent, in a process of Euro-Atlantic integration. The clear Euro-Atlantic perspective of the countries from the region, the membership in NATO and EU, are an incentive for the stabilization and sustainable democratic development of these countries.

There is a strong current against expansion of both NATO and the E.U.  I ask that policymakers keep an open mind to greater membership and integration.  Will it come with a cost? Is it difficult? Unquestionably, yes to both questions.  However, what price can you place on peace, stability and an expansion of democratic values?  On completing Europe?

International attention to our region has faded as we focus on other areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. This is understandable.  However, there is still unfinished business that once completed can serve to cement a permanent peace.

There are many challenges in the year ahead chief among them the implementation of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's six-point plan for EULEX deployment in Kosovo, With the words of President Barack Obama, “if you are walking down the right path and you are willing to keep walking, eventually you will make progress.” We in Macedonia will be working to build peace and continue with our economic and social reforms.  I urge our friends gathered here for this conference to help press for renewed interest in the Balkans. Doing so will help Macedonia and our region take those final few steps towards greater integration into Europe and increased security in NATO.

Thank you for your attention.