Macedonia not expecting date for EU talks soon

SKOPJE, Nov 1 (Reuters) Macedonia said today it did not expect to win a date for European Union accession talks when the EU executive issues a progress report on aspiring members next week.

''This report will represent something of a platform, a challenge to fill in all the data ... and of course to pursue the reform process,'' Gabriela Konevska-Trajkovska, deputy prime minister for European integration, told reporters.

''...the expectations are that in this report we will not get the negotiations date,'' she said. ''There are no surprises.'' Macedonia, which split peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991, became an official candidate for EU membership in December 2005.

It said last week it hoped to begin accession talks in 2007 or early 2008, with a view to joining the bloc from 2012.

But like Albania, Bosnia and Serbia, its hopes have been dampened by a mood of ''enlargement fatigue'' in Brussels, where some members have called for a pause in expansion after Bulgaria and Romania join in January to take the bloc to 27 nations.

A senior EU official in Brussels told Reuters there would likely be a pause of ''perhaps five or six years without further accessions''. The European Commission will issue a progress report next week.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the commission remained concerned about Macedonia's readiness, citing what he said was the politicisation of the civil service and lack of dialogue with the parliamentary opposition since a change of government in July.

In Bosnia, a spokesman for the chief negotiator with the EU, also said a slowdown in the EU's expansion was not a surprise.

''The postponement of the EU enlargement does not mean anything for Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is not capable of completing the necessary negotiations and achieving the required progress in the next 5-6 years anyway,'' said Ahmed Turkic.

The EU also wants Macedonia to improve the economy, tackle rampant unemployment and step up the fight against corruption.

Skopje this week adopted a new law on police, called for by the EU and designed to give the 25-percent Albanian minority greater say in the running of the police force.

The legislation is part of a raft of changes envisaged under a 2001 peace accord -- brokered by the EU and NATO -- that ended seven months of clashes between government forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas. The former guerrillas, now in opposition in parliament, said the changes did not go far enough.

REUTERS PDM RK2310