Ohrid Agreement
The Ohrid Framework Agreement was the peace deal signed by the government of North Macedonia and ethnic Albanian representatives on 13 August 2001. The agreement was signed by the country's four political parties after international mediators demanded their commitment to its ratification and implementation within a four-year period.Provisions
The Ohrid Agreement created a framework for North Macedonia as a civic state. It established basic principles of the state such as cessation of hostilities, voluntary disarmament of ethnic Albanian armed groups, government devolution, and the reform of minority political and cultural rights. It ended the armed conflict between the National Liberation Army and the security forces of North Macedonia.
The Agreement also included provisions for altering the official languages of the country, with any language spoken by more than 20% of the population becoming co-official with the Macedonian language at the municipal level. Only the Albanian language, with an approximate 25% of the population being speakers, currently qualifies as a co-official language under this criterion. The Agreement is an example of the adoption of consociationalism.
According to the document, the English-language version is the only authentic version of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. The Government of North Macedonia had to adapt the Constitution of North Macedonia in order to provide the Albanian minority living in North Macedonia with fifteen basic rights. The lead negotiator on the behalf of the EU was François Léotard, with James W. Pardew, who had been dispatched by Secretary of State Colin Powell, representing the United States.
