Pages
Topic Discussion I
Politics of Hard Choices
Political Transition and Economic Restructuring
Room 4
(4 of 12 pages)
I belong to the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia. I am a Member of the Parliament
and this was the party that was in charge or in government during the six years of this eight year period of transition
therefore I must say that we felt the good and the bad sides of political and economic transition both as citizens
but also as representatives and members of party and government. I will try to give several suggestions about what
are the most important things that you have to bear in mind if you are interested in starting drastic changes in
your own country.
I think that the most important thing that must be guaranteed is that there is a basic political will and a political
structure that will support these changes. One of the questions that was given to us by the organizers was asking
whether there is a certain way that the opinion leaders in politics and civil society can be educated about the
need for structural economic reforms and so on. My personal belief is that if you don't have a domestic real political
force that feels the need for changes like this there is no much hope that these changes can be carried. These
people must be certain in what they preach and what they aim. They must be aware of the political risk view that
they will advocate for and due to the changes they will work on. They have to be aware of the short term hardships
or even long term hardships that they will endure and the political price that they as politicians will have to
take.
International community and organizations can help in reassuring them and in providing them with information, experiences
and expertise. We have found as politicians that this is extremely important. They must be a certain relevant circle
politically within the country that will feel the need and be sure of the need for such changes. This is a circle
of real true believers and they have to be relevant otherwise helping maybe democratic pro market oriented circles
which are not so relevant in the country can also backside effect and diminish the roles. Therefore my suggestion
would be to look for the relevant factors and looks for the factors that really have felt the need for changes
in their own countries. You have to help provide all the support and help that is needed. If not you have to work
with relevant circles perhaps that you don't find so close to your own beliefs. You have to work with them and
identify certain persons who are possible to work with and who are interested in doing something.
It also must be insured that the people that will be in charge of the country during this process will have to
create a vision of where this country should be going. This vision should be shared with the general public using
media, different non-governmental organizations, working with different political parties, smaller opposition parties
and so on. My own experience says that you have to be frank and open. You cannot say that by starting changes in
your country you will bring prosperity and peace. You won't be able afterwards to live up to your promises. So
the truth is that some things will become even worse but that it will last for a certain period of time and then
probably the period of recuperation will start. Only in that case you can work with the media and influential representatives
and persons in different constituencies and look, ask, search, plea for their support. You have to use examples.
In our own country and situation proved that using examples of countries which were found in similar positions
and used different ways of dealing with the problems is very useful. We have had several countries in our region
that were undergoing more or less the same process of transition and changes. Some of them were brave enough to
embrace real reform. Some of them tried some reforms and then changed their minds. All these negative examples
are really useful to show the public that your vision is really aiming at a certain goal.
One of the questions asked here is how can you reform the country by enabling a certain safety net to cushion this
negative aspects of economic reforms. In this respect you have to set priorities. You have to decide what the issues
that you cannot touch in the first moment but you have to leave for afterwards. Our own experience said that for
example the pension system that was really working in the previous system cannot be touched first. You shouldn't
go into changing something that will provoke dramatic changes and dramatic social clashes. Therefore we left some
of the reforms, like the reform of the pension system and the reform of the health system for a bit later. So you
have to be clear and open about the priorities.
|
[ Introduction ] [ Worldwide Activities ] [ What We Do ] |