FYROM's transition: on the road to Europe?

Abstract

When the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) applied for admission to the European Union in March 2004, it was the culmination of a long and difficult road since it had gained its independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in September 1991. Although FYROM was the only republic of former Yugoslavia which gained its independence peacefully and without bloodshed, in a little over a decade the viability of the new state had been challenged more than once due to political, ethnic and economic reasons. Yet, despite tremendous difficulties and against all odds, FYROM not only surmounted these obstacles but as of December 2005 is officially an EU candidate country. This can be considered a tremendous achievement for a country which many feared would be the next domino in the cycle of violence which followed the break-up of Yugoslavia. This paper will analyse FYROM’s transition and economic development since independence, as well as the country’s relations with the European Union and the prospects for EU membership. The stimulus for this paper is based on three premises. First, the process of FYROM’s political and economic transition is unprecedented in range and scope. Specifically, FYROM’s transition has been threefold: from a centrally planned to a market economy, from a regional to a national economy, and from a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to an independent state and an EU candidate country. This fact makes FYROM’s experience particularly interesting as a case study of a transition economy, and one which can provide valuable lessons. Other examples of countries who successfully undertook a threefold transition differ in that these countries were economically among the strongest of their respective federations. Thus, they not only had strong economic motivations which led them to seek independence, they also were able to launch their transitions from a more solid starting point in terms of economic development, infrastructure, etc. FYROM was one of the poorest regions of the former Yugoslavia, and was particularly dependent on the transfer of federal funds; thus, unlike the countries referred to above, FYROM actually stood to lose from the breakdown of the federation. Second, FYROM’s transition and economic development since independence has not been extensively documented and there is an evident lack of literature on this subject. As a small state, which had been considered unviable due to the particularly unfavourable conditions under which it had gained independence,