wh y w e l o s t
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and its leaders of supporting the Albanian cause and pointed to the Alliance as the major
perpetrator of the war in Macedonia during the past year. One explanation for this rheto-
ric was the pending parliamentary elections and a desire to gain the support of patriotic
Macedonian voters and those greatly disappointed by the outcome of the 2001 crisis.
All of these anti-Western politics were a step away from the original platform of VMRO
as a pro-Euroatlantic party, evidenced by its application for NATO membership in 1993
and the signing of the Association and Stabilization Agreement with the EU in 2001.
Prime Minister Georgievski’s disputes with Western officials made him a politically un-
stable leader. The first serious divide between him and his closest associates occurred
with the resignation of the vice president of the party, Dosta Dimovska, in January 2002.
Also, the prime minister’s relationship with former advisor (and now president) Tra-
jkovski dramatically deteriorated, which was evidenced by the insults hurled at Tra-
jkovski during his resignation speech in 2002, in which he apologized for supporting
his candidacy in 1999.
IV. Achievements and Failures
VMRO was the first party to demand and propose Macedonian independence. According
to its logic, the long oppressed historical desire of generations of Macedonians (who were
represented by VMRO) to lead Macedonia into independence was finally achieved with
its victory in the elections in 1998. The VMRO-DPMNE government committed itself to
reforms and succeeded in many areas.
The biggest success in reforms took place in the financial sector, which addressed issues
in areas where previous governments had failed or had ignored altogether. The process
of denationalization was started, and many people got their land and real estate back 50
years after the Communists had taken it. A value-added tax was introduced, and the first
benefits were felt from this taxation. Trust in domestic banks returned, and many people
again put their money in bank accounts. Other achievements included putting retail stores
and service companies under fiscal control, as well as full membership in the World Trade
Organization (WTO). All of these accomplishments were made by the young minister
of finance, Nikola Gruevski, with a transparent approach and good public relations. His
“Buy Macedonian Products” campaign was a great success and was widely accepted by the
people of Macedonia. In 2000, Macedonia achieved a 5% increase in GDP. This increased
to 6% in 2001 and 2002, followed by a permanent cessation of IMF loans.
Although there was a failure to keep the country stable, security institutions like the army
and the police received technical and operational improvements. The VMRO government
fully satisfied their needs for equipment and weapons through purchases and donations
from friendly European countries and the United States.
With the opening of the South Eastern University in Tetovo, higher education in the Al-
banian language was introduced for the first time in Macedonia. This was done with great
help from the international community and was a big step toward fostering inter-ethnic
tolerance between the Macedonian and Albanian population. This university was also a
result of a good coalition partnership between VMRO and PDSH. In addition, the gov-
