European Union foreign policy chief Mr Javier Solana urged Macedonia's parliament today to reject calls for a referendum on civil rights reforms designed to defuse ethnic conflict in the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic.
Nationalist hardliners are pushing for a referendum in the hope of derailing the reforms, part of a peace deal with ethnic Albanian guerrillas who have been fighting government forces.
Two months would be needed to organise a referendum and this would put us in a difficult situation, Mr Solana told members of the European Parliament.
"A two month gap (in the peace process) would be very serious. We are working to ensure that this does not happen", he said.
Macedonia's parliament held an angry debate on Tuesday on the mooted referendum. It will resume tomorrow.
Today, the chamber was due to start considering 14 constitutional amendments required by the peace pact.
The EU and the United States fear any delay in ratification of the reforms will play into the hands of extremists on both sides and raise the risk of renewed conflict.
A NATO force is currently collecting weapons from the guerrillas under the peace agreement. A smaller force is now expected to stay in Macedonia after the current deadline expires on September 27th.
Asked about plans to station this smaller force to protect EU monitors, Mr Solana said: "We are expecting a final letter today or tomorrow with a formal request from President (Boris) Trajkovski".
"For some time, there will have to be a limited military presence from Europe to avoid the kind of security vacuum which we had before (the present operation)", Mr Solana said.