European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Macedonia today to push political dialogue in the country.It has been rocked by recent fighting between Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
Solana's visit to Skopje came 10 days after the Balkan country promised the EU to agree on political reforms by June to ease tensions with its large ethnic Albanian minority that helped fuel the clashes.
"I hope very much that [by] June your prime minister will report progress in the dialogue - how much I don't know, but I hope as much as possible," Mr Solana told reporters.
EU diplomats have said the reforms would probably include an overhaul of local government and the launch of a new Albanian-language television channel.
In Luxembourg on April 9th, Macedonian Prime Minister Mr Ljubco Georgievski and EU foreign ministers also signed an accord on closer ties that aims to bolster regional stability and put the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic on the path to eventual EU membership.
The following day, Macedonia's political leaders opened a new round of talks on how to reduce tensions fuelled by a month of clashes between the army and the guerrillas.