Western peace sponsors ratcheted up pressure on Macedonia today to pardon ex-guerrillas and enact civil rights reforms to avoid alienating Western donors needed for its struggling economy.
But Macedonian leaders showed no sense of urgency. Even the main moderate party which earlier urged parliament to ratify reforms required by an August peace accord has backtracked over what it called ceasefire violations by Albanian terrorists.
European Union foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana and European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Mr Chris Patten will visit tomorrow to read the riot act to Skopje nationalists: no aid until peace treaty pledges of reform are put into law.
But doubts have arisen over whether the EU and US patrons of the peace deal can wield meaningful leverage with warnings that a planned donors conference will be put off indefinitely.
The Macedonian cabinet itself suggested yesterday that the conference, set for October 15th, be put off because its experts could not safely access rebel territory to assess war damage and suggest to donors how much was needed to repair it.
Diplomats say Skopje cannot move police and refugees back into crisis areas without inviting violence only because it has failed to enshrine constitutional reforms or a guerrilla amnesty to reciprocate for the rebels' disarmament under the peace pact.
"Our message to the Macedonians is that there is no free lunch. There is no peace without some sacrifice, and it is not sustainable unless the Macedonians do what they committed themselves to doing," a senior Western envoy said today.