While at home we often forget that Macedonians also live on the other side of the border, something happened in Spain that means a great deal to them. The General Assembly of the European Free Alliance (EFA), meeting in Gandia, unanimously adopted a resolution to protect the Macedonian minority in Albania - a document that finally puts their rights on a European table.

The resolution, tabled by the Macedonian Alliance for European Integration - whose president, Vasil Sterjovski, is also an EFA delegate - is no symbolic declaration. It specifically calls on the Albanian authorities and EU institutions to provide schooling in Macedonian wherever there is demand, mechanisms for fair political representation - including the possibility of guaranteed seats in parliament - and sustainable economic investment in minority regions.

The document goes further still: it demands a stronger, more independent Committee for National Minorities, free and internationally monitored self-determination processes, including censuses, and ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In other words - everything a minority is supposed to have, and has long gone without.

In its framing, the resolution openly points to outside political interference, especially from Bulgaria, and to irregularities in census processes that obstruct the right to self-determination. The question now is what follows the Gandia vote: will a resolution like this stay a piece of paper, or will Skopje and Brussels actually stand behind the demands for education, representation and a fair census? Recognising the rights is the first step - but for the minority in Albania, the real difference will only come from putting them into practice on the ground.