Trajkovski's death shocks Europe
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Trajkovski was traveling to an investment conference in Mostar.
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Trajkovsky killed in air crash in Bosnia. Journalist Samir Krilic reports
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SKOPJE, Macedonia -- Ordinary Macedonians and European leaders have described their shock at the death of President Boris Trajkovski in a plane crash in Bosnia.
"I can't believe this is happening to us. This is a shock," a sobbing Marina Vilareva, a 38-year-old computer expert from the capital, Skopje, told The Associated Press.
"What have we done wrong?" 32-year-old law expert Emil Ivanovski added.
An early reaction came from Dublin, where Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern was meeting a visiting Macedonian government delegation that was presenting an official application to join the European Union.
The prime minister's office said Thursday a presentation ceremony for the EU application had been canceled because of the "tragic news that President Boris Trajkovski has died in a plane crash over Bosnia."
Ahern also offered his "deep sympathy" to Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski.
Trajkovski, 47, was flying to the Bosnian city of Mostar for an international investment conference. The area where the plane disappeared from radar is about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Mostar.
Bosnian President Dragan Covic told the Mostar conference that Trajkovski was "irreplaceable," AP reported.
"We today lost a friend ... our thoughts are with the families of the victims," Covic said as the gathering of about 2,000 participants observed a minute of silence.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer praised Trajkovski, saying he had "demonstrated great leadership to preserve the unity of his country when it was under threat," AP said.
Reports of the 47-year-old president's death also echoed through the European Commission in Brussels.
And European Commission chief Romano Prodi said "it was a very sad day for Macedonia that loses a wise and balanced leader. A very sad day for the Balkan region for whose integration he had spent so much effort. And a very sad day for Europe that loses a friend and a supporter of the values of tolerance on which our union is based."
EU's international policy chief Javier Solana called Trajkovski a "man of passion" and said it was "a very tragic day for Macedonia, for all the people of that country but also for many people in Europe."
"President Trajkovski was a great man, a man of passion, a man who moved his country forward, not only the reforms but also to get it as close as possible to Europe," Solana said in a statement.
"I was his friend. I was with him in very difficult moments. It is going to be very difficult for the people of Macedonia to fill that gap," he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Finnish President Tarja Hallonen and other European leaders sent their condolences to the Macedonian people and the government. The top U.N. official in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, expressed his deep shock and sorrow, AP said.
"The news of the death of the president hit me hard," said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
Throughout the volatile Balkans, leaders praised Trajkovski for helping to unite his ethnically divided country following the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Trajkovski's reported death was a "blow to the whole region, not only for Macedonia," Croatian President Stipe Mesic said.
"It was his authority that made it possible for the situation to calm down, to come back to normal, so that political solutions could be found," AP quoted Mesic as saying. "Macedonia won't have an easy time, and it won't be easy to find a replacement for Trajkovski."
The foreign minister of Serbia-Montenegro, Goran Svilanovic, said Trajkovski made a huge contribution to the stability of the entire Balkans.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
