After two year of extensive educational program for the Macedonian members of Parliament with social-democratic orientation the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - Office Macedonia has organized a follow up program for 12 MP-s and one vice-minister from 13 th -19 th February 2006 in Slovenian Parliament in Ljubljana and Austrian Parliament in Vienna .

Ljubljana, 13-15.02.2006
The main idea for visiting the Slovenian Parliament was conducted in the need to exchange experiences for their developing way and process of their success towards their membership into the EU, and also taking into consideration the already existing good cooperation between the both Parliaments and established Twinning programs for preparation and adaptation on the procedures of the Slovenian assembly to European integration, the negotiation process and implementing the EU law into the national legal system. The Macedonian delegation had an opportunity to discuss and exchange information for vital topics for the Macedonian and Slovenian economy and political processes with representatives from different working committees, as well as learning more about the rules of procedure of the Slovenian Parliament from the General Secretary and his Deputy. On each of the meetings a Macedonian representative introduced the relevant commission with the present situation in Republic of Macedonia , and then throughout concrete questions learned how the Republic of Slovenia has overcome the reforming processes and problems on its way towards EU in different areas. This part of the program has been realized in cooperation with the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia .




Vienna , 15-19.02.2006
E stablishing a dialog with relevant institutions in Austria and its EU-Presidency from January to June 2006 was of major importance for the Macedonian aspirations towards EU, as a candidate country. This part of the follow up program was evaluated in cooperation with the Renner Institute, Vienna . The delegation had an opportunity to visit the Austrian Parliament and to establish several meeting with the MP-s and representatives from relevant working committees, to discuss about history Parliamentarizmus in Austria , then about the social politic, economy and budget politic. The representative from the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs introduced the delegation to the Austrian priorities during its presidency; the Austrian military policy towards the Balkans were discussed with the representative from the Ministry of Defence; then the working of the trade unions and social partnership in Austria were main topic with the Trade Union Alliance, and one of the most impressive meetings was with the EU parliamentarian Mr. Hannes Swoboda, who presented the present situation and public opinion in the EU after the enlargement and its positions towards the Western Balkans candidate countries and the perspectives of the Republic of Macedonia.