Ohrid Agreement

The Ohrid Framework Agreement is between the two largest Slavic and the two major Albanian parties in Macedonia on 13 August 2001 agreement concluded so as to guarantee an adequate representation of the Albanian minority in politics and administration. It ended the violent clashes of 2001 in the country and should establish a viable political order.

The separatist and militarist grouping Albanian Liberation Army in Macedonia ( KLA ) pursued in the first half of 2001 through violent connecting the Albanian settlements in Macedonia to Kosovo. The changes brought about by the actions of this group unrest could lead to civil war and in consequence the dissolution of the Macedonian state. Under pressure from the European Union and the United States, representatives of the four largest parties in the country to enter into discussions determined as the ethnic conflict between the Macedonian majority and the Albanian minority could be solved.

With the help of international mediators, it was agreed in Ohrid to negotiations from July 27 to August 8, 2001 on a framework agreement, which provided for an administrative decentralization, a redrawing of municipal boundaries and further uses of the Albanian language in the administration. Of significance in this context especially the forthcoming apply principle of double majorities ( Badinter principle), so a majority even among those MPs who represent a minority, ie, mainly the ethnic Albanian deputies.

Signatories to the agreement were the part of the Government of Macedonia President Boris Trajkovski and Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, also Chairman of the VMRO- DPMNE. As counsel Branko Crvenkovski signed as chairman of the Sojuz na Makedonija Socijaldemokratski, Arbën Xhaferi as Chairman of the Albanian Democratic Party and Imer Imeri as chairman of the Party for Democratic Prosperity. As witnesses, the mediator Francois Leotard of the European Union and James W. Pardew will be listed as the United States. Present also were Javier Solana, George Robertson and Jaime Gama as a representative of the OSCE.

The agreement itself was not legally binding. Rather, the changes therein, had to be implemented by laws of the Macedonian Parliament in the law. This is mostly happen in the following years. Some Albanian politicians brought in 2009, however, doubts about the implementation of the agreement (cf. Macedonia # domestic policy ).

" The Framework Agreement has contributed significantly to the internal political stability of Macedonia and the Albanian population closer to the state, but the ethnic segregation of society could not be overcome by it. "