Lord George Robertson, who served as the 10th Secretary General of NATO from 1999 to 2004, was one of the chief international protagonists of the process that has brought peace and creation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (OFA) on August 13, 2001. The OFA has been part of the process that enabled peace, reconciliation and progress of North Macedonia, as a democratic and multicultural country.
Here is the speech of Lord Robertson, at the conference “Beyond Ohrid”, organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the OFA (as transcribed from the live video footage).
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman, dobar den, mirëdita. It’s lovely to be in Skopje again.
Last month at the Prespa Conference, by video, I told of my visit after the Ohrid Agreement to Tearce, a mixed village in the Tetovo valley, where we celebrated the peaceful end to a crisis which had consumed the majority of that year of 2001. A few months later, I actually wrote as to why we should have celebrated with the children, and this is what I wrote at that time: It was because the international community, its leaders, its institutions, its brave and professional troops, with some of North Macedonia’s own farsighted courageous political leaders, and ultimately a wise population, all of them boldly and decisively did the right thing, at the right time.
And one day, these lovely children, grown up in their peaceful European country, will know what was done and who did it, and they will give thanks. And so today here in Skopje as we look back on the 13 of August, 2001, we should all be thankful. But much more than that.
That agreement was not given to us by providence. It needed very, very hard work. And it still needs hard work. It was not an ending. It was a beginning. It was a remarkable snapshot in the nation’s history, but still needs nurturing and building on. It needs constant attention and the foundations it produced need to be reinforced and constantly refreshed if the successes are to be a fruit and be permanent.
So, today needs to be more than a nostalgic look back on the relief that we failed that August day in 2001, and as It was the unique end of a conflict which the agreement represented. Our meeting today has to be a recognition that the generation which was in school then or yet to be born will not be content with how we got it right 20 years ago, their preoccupation will be with how we get it right, now. It should never be forgotten that prosperous societies are happy societies, and friendly countries, and good neighbors.
Paper agreements and treaties litter history. But I speak as somebody who faced elective office 5 times, what people want, what people genuinely want is a job, a home, an education for their children, and hope for the future, and that has to be the step beyond the Ohrid Agreement and our obligation to them.
The world, and Europe and the Balkans, in particular, I believe, have underestimated and indeed undervalued the way in which the Ohrid Agreement process provided an example and did a template for conflict resolution. Of course, as the President has just said, it has its imperfections, it was never seen as being perfect, there will still be those who think that it gave away too much or considered too little.
Well, I say both of these views are on the wrong side of history. I believe passionately that consensus, compromise, balance, and tolerance, they may be unfashionable in a world tending towards the authoritarian model, but they are at the root of the prosperous, contented, peaceful democracies that most people want, and many yearn for. 20 years ago, when FYROM was your country’s label on the world’s map, and when bright, talented North-Macedonians saw their future only outside their own borders, NATO membership was only a faint dream.
Now, FYROM has gone from the world’s maps, and North Macedonia and its people can see a safe future at home as well, and NATO is now a living reality, and the flag of the Republic of North Macedonia proudly flies over that new NATO building in Brussels. And that, too should be a reality for your European Union membership for this country, too. You’re ready for it. You’ve done the heavy groundwork. The European Union needs you in it, and it would, in many ways, consolidate the progress that has been made over these 2 decades.
So, here, today, let me reach out and make a direct appeal to my friends in Bulgaria, and I have many of them, many of them there, and as Bulgaria sought EU and NATO membership, they had a good, tolerant and forgiving friend in me at NATO headquarters.
Bulgaria, as a neighbor, benefited enormously from this Ohrid Agreement, and had the conflict gone to the traditional Balkan death spiral, Bulgaria would have felt the storm waves and would still be feeling them today. Today’s European Union is made out of nations worth centuries – old animosities and grievances, but it is the triumph of our age that these traditional foes sit together now in the councils of this amazing union of freely integrated nations.
North Macedonia deserves to be there too and I hope that Bulgaria will listen to the unanimous voices of its friends and lift the block on North Macedonia. Finally, can I say a word about, and on behalf of those veterans of 2001, who you have generously brought here together today. And first of all, I want to recognize one who will be appearing virtually in a few minutes but can’t be here in person today, and to salute my old friend and partner in crisis management, Javier Solana. His outstanding leadership and his personal friendship will live with me forever. He was, and is, to so many people, an inspiration in what he’s done.
My second point is to say that the veterans, who helped in 2001, have now formed a supportive group for this country, called the Ohrid group. We want to go beyond the nostalgia and to help with your future, as well, and I hope that we, collectively and individually, can contribute to a prosperous 20 years to come.
Mr. President, the hosts here today, we commemorate the past today, and we think fondly of the end of 2001, but we must all now commit ourselves to making the next few decades worthy of the lessons of that past. I thank you for your attention.
