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Source: Macedonian daily Dnevnik Translated by the Macedonian Information Center, Edited by UMDiaspora Staff There are no reasons why the new government should not make a serious attempt to develop closer relations with Germany, which can lobby for Macedonia's intents to become a member of NATO and the EU, new Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said. He said that he would use the gains from his stay in Germany, where he obtained a master's degree, learned one more foreign language, and made many friends. Dnevnik: You just joined the Foreign Ministry. Do you know what awaits you in this important ministry and what do you expect of the Foreign Ministry? Do you think that this function can fulfill you? Will it enable you to show what you know or does it frighten you? Milososki: If it frightened me, I would not have accepted this position. No one can be forced to do something that they do not want to do. I want to be part of the government. What is more, I wanted to be in that part of the government that represents Macedonia and that will help the country's EU integration. This is a serious engagement for me. This is my biggest challenge so far and I will do everything to carry out this function well.
From what I know, a problem that every previous foreign minister faced was lack of finances and problems with the internal organization. I think that at times this can have a discouraging effect on employees, preventing them from giving their maximum. It is also discouraging that the principles of diligence, dedication, and serious engagement in the work were not the priority criteria for certain cadre in the Foreign Ministry to be promoted and to continue their diplomatic career outside the country, in the diplomatic and consular offices. Dnevnik: But the Foreign Ministry also needs people who will do their work here. This ministry should not be a waiting room for their departure to the diplomatic and consular offices abroad. Milososki: I think that the job here will have to be completed. It will be best if we work with concrete tasks and deadlines. But we should also urge employees to take more initiative. So the foreign minister should be the person who will give the general directions in the Foreign Ministry, while the administration should offer alternative decisions. Dnevnik: Does this mean that there will be no employments based on party affiliation in the Foreign Ministry? Milososki: So far this ministry has not had a minister from the VMRO-DPMNE ranks. So we will have to see, I would rather not predict anything in advance. In any case, I think that the Foreign Ministry should be strengthened, considering that Macedonia is at an advanced phase as regards the EU and NATO. If we want to respond to the tasks seriously, we must create conditions for the entry of new fresh young cadre in the Foreign Ministry. Dnevnik: There has been a big outflow of diplomats over the last few years. How will you prevent this? Do you have an interest in this outflow of diplomats continuing, considering the fact that the Foreign Ministry is the ministry with least young cadre? Milososki: It is true that this ministry needs fresh blood. But it would certainly be a pity to let go of an experienced diplomat with the rank of ambassador who wants to contribute to the Foreign Ministry. Naturally, we cannot force people to remain part of the Foreign Ministry. But those who want to can and should be engaged. For example, if there are no systemic capabilities, certain ambassadors can be engaged as foreign associates of the ministry on certain issues. It is a pity not to engage cadre in whom the state invested. Dnevnik: You are the youngest foreign minister so far. Do you consider this an advantage or a drawback? Milososki: Ideas and intelligence are not in one’s wrinkles and age, but in one’s head and motivation. Dnevnik: Nikola Gruevski said in his address that we should probably expect continuity in this government's foreign policy. What will be the priorities in the state's foreign policy? Milososki: The biggest advantage regarding the Foreign Ministry is that the state's priorities have already been determined and that no relevant political subject opposes them. Regardless of whether we are talking about left or right winged parties, we all have reached a serious agreement that EU and NATO are our priorities. First, we will invest a lot of dynamism in NATO, and then in the EU. Even though these two objectives are complementary and do not exclude each other, we have seen that NATO is the first stop of all countries that are heading for the EU.  Dnevnik: Does this mean that you will continue your predecessors' work, despite your and your party's frequent remarks in the past that the foreign policy was not managed well?
Milososki: Many mistakes were made. For example, if Macedonia had been organized better, it could have received the status candidate and the date for the start of the negotiations at the same time. But because we made internal mistakes, our foreign policy had partial instead of complete success. The second mistake is that the former government gave priority to party affiliation rather than quality. There was also a lot of insincerity in our relations with our partners, especially with Brussels. On two or three occasions the former foreign minister presented our flaws and the EU's criticism as support of the same. After every such step, she was refuted. T his creates a bad impression in our public, but it also damages the credibility of our diplomacy, that is, the foreign minister. I think that this must not happen. I think that the minister has nothing to lose by being honest with the domestic and international public. I will be honest, regardless of the price. I think that insincerity will cost us more than any sincerity, no matter how painful or unacceptable it may be to the public. Dnevnik: Do you intend to recall any of the current ambassadors if it is assessed that they are not doing their job? Milososki: This is a practice in some countries. In the United States and Poland, when a new government or president is elected, the ambassadors offer their resignations to the president or the government. This would be a very revolutionary step here and it would create a lot of controversies and turbulence. Thus, I think that we will not implement such radical measures. Dnevnik: You announced strengthening of the public diplomacy. But there were also announcements of "cultural ambassadors" of the country. Why did you choose such diplomacy? Can it give better results than the so-called state diplomacy? Milososki: State diplomacy is communication between two governments, between ministers, and this is as far as it goes. Its aim is precisely communication with another country. On the other hand, the aim of public diplomacy is to establish contact between our government and the public in another state. Public opinion in every state is one of the factors that affect the decisions of the government in that particular state. There are many methods. I think that this should be a coordinated strategy that would be proposed by the Foreign Ministry and will include the Economy Ministry, especially the sectors for investments and tourism. It should also include cultural promotion of the cultural values and cooperation with the two ministers responsible for investment promotion of Macedonia. All of us together should build a strategy. We should prepare a slogan and decide which countries we will target, with the aim of improving Macedonia's reputation in all aspects. We should show that this is a normal country, that it is a small country, that it is an interesting place for investment, that it is a country that has 300 sunny days in the year, and that it is a country of cultural values. Dnevnik: The new government already announced stronger contacts with the Macedonian Diaspora. So far the Macedonian Orthodox Church "led" the contacts with the diaspora, while the dioceses had the final word in this strategy. Do you think that something should be changed in this approach and if so, what? Milososki: We intend to change a lot as regards the Diaspora. The first thing is that we will enable the Diaspora to vote at elections. This will make the Diaspora more motivated to maintain contacts with Macedonia. The parties will also be more interested in the Diaspora. This potential will have great importance for everyone. This will require big changes, but we can expect the Diaspora to establish stronger contacts with Macedonia. Giving them the right to vote will not be enough to attract them as investors. But this would be a precondition for them to start thinking about Macedonia more seriously. If this is fulfilled, then everything else will proceed more smoothly. Dnevnik: More attention should also be paid to the Macedonians in the neighboring countries. Do you have any plans as regards the Macedonian national minority in the neighboring countries and the improvement of their position? Milososki: I think that the best thing that can happen to the organizations of the minorities in the Balkan countries is for these countries to become EU members or to want to join the EU. For example, the Macedonian minority in Greece is in a much better position than it was 20 years ago. As "Vinozito", the association of the Macedonians in Greece, claims, even though the situation is not perfect, it is improving -- slowly, but surely. The reason for this is precisely because these organizations learned how to use the mechanisms provided by the EU. But Macedonia can and should lobby and express an interest in its minorities in the neighboring states through its bilateral relations with those countries, without provoking conflict or disturbances. It should also encourage its neighbors to fulfill all European criteria relating to minority rights. This will be the policy of this government. Dnevnik: The prime minister did not say anything about the state's policy on Kosovo in his address. What will be your position on this, seeing that this is an extremely important issue for Macedonia? Milososki: This issue is very important to us because Kosovo is our neighbor. I do not think that Macedonia will assume such an ambitious task to directly influence the resolving of Kosovo's status, considering that the international community has already determined the main actors: the international community, Pristina, and Belgrade. Three things are important to us: first, the final status should reflect the will of the majority of the citizens who live in Kosovo; second, it should be a joint agreement of all three sides; and third, the final status of Kosovo should encourage, not threaten stability in the region. Demarcation of the border falls in the third criterion, which we hope will be fulfilled. This means that the border demarcation is one more chance for Kosovo to show that it really wants to contribute to stability in the region. A precondition for this is respect for the internationally recognized borders. The Kosovo leadership has a chance to demonstrate maturity as regards regional stability. My assessment is that Macedonia cannot create or has not created a position that will enable it to mark the border before the resolution of Kosovo’s final status. We would be satisfied if the demarcation of the border with Kosovo is part of the Kosovo final status package. We will really consider this a success. Dnevnik: Your and Prime Minister Gruevski's statements on the name provoked official Greece to react. It came out with an official position that the talks are led on a name that Macedonia will use in its international communication. How will you conduct the talks, what will your strategy be? Milososki: We do not want to agitate anyone. This is our policy. We do not want to agitate anyone as regards the differences over the name and irritate Greece. But we want to stress one thing: just like a person cannot give up his or her shadow, Macedonia cannot give up its constitutional name. There are no differences on the use of the constitutional name between Macedonia and Russia or between Skopje and Washington, or any other country. There are differences only between Skopje and Athens. We should continue with a constructive approach in the talks so that we can find a mutual solution.
Dnevnik: It seems that there is no progress with such strategy and position. Greece wants more efficient talks. What does "more efficient talks" mean? Milososki: I think that there is progress. Although rejected by Greece, Ambassador Nimetz’s latest official proposal can be considered progress. So something is moving as regards this issue and it will continue to move. We do not expect the name issue to be resolved in six months or a year. The problem has existed 15 years, but we have found a mechanism for it to not be an obstacle to the development of friendly relations with Greece, especially in the sphere of economy. I think that the priority should be that which connects us and we should cooperate. We see no reason why Athens, which also has good and friendly relations with Washington, should not have understanding for the position of the United States, which claims that Macedonia's constitutional name strengthens our internal cohesion and the potential for Macedonia's stability, and thus contributes to stability in the region. Our aim is for these historical differences to be overcome so that this reality, which functions better at a bilateral level with Athens, becomes a stable bridge that will not be threatened by anything. ---------------------- Views expressed on this page are not necessarily those of the United Macedonian Diaspora nor does their publishing on this website imply support from the United Macedonian Diaspora.
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