By Apostolis Fotiadis
ATHENS, Oct 24 2007 (IPS)

U.N. Secretary-General’s special mediator Matthew Nimits has invited Greece and Macedonia to resume negotiations over what Macedonia calls itself.

Macedonia expects to be invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) next April at the organisation summit in Bucharest. Foreign minister Antonio Milososki said it “will do so as the Republic of Macedonia.”

But Greece has so far accepted only the name ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ (FYROM) for the nation of two million situated between Greece and Serbia. It considers Macedonia to be a Hellenic name, and therefore refuses to accept the name Republic of Macedonia. Macedonians claim non-Greek lineage.

“There is no way that Greece will accept FYROM’s accession to either NATO or the EU if a mutually acceptable name has not been found,” Greek deputy foreign minister Theodoros Kassimis said last week.

Macedonia’s social fabric has been damaged profoundly by the ethnic civil war in 2001 (between the Albanian and the Slavo-Macedonian elements), plus widespread poverty and underdevelopment. Entry in the Euro-Atlantic structures appears the only way to guarantee Macedonia’s stability. As the Bucharest summit approaches, the international community is stepping up pressure on both adversaries for a compromise.

But the name issue has been pending for 16 years, and there are no signs of a solution.

In 1991, while seceding from Yugoslavia, the newborn nation-state was named ‘Republic of Macedonia’. Greece challenged the right of the new republic to incorporate the term ‘Macedonia’ in its constitutional name, and brought the issue before the U.N. Security Council and the EU.

Three years of negotiations did not produce results. Polarised public opinions and political instability came in the way of compromise.

The right wing New Democracy (ND) government in Greece fell in 1993. A year later its successor, the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) placed a costly embargo on Macedonia for more than 18 months.

U.N. Resolution 817, signed in September 1995, obliged both countries to hold discussions under the auspices of the U.N. until they could reach a commonly acceptable solution.

Greece then recognised its adversary as temporarily the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, and re-established economic and trade relations.

“There has been no progress since then,” Tenko Maleski, who was Macedonian foreign minister between 1991 and 1993, told IPS. “And I don’t see any essential communication or eagerness to invite people to exchange opinions on this. On the contrary, politicians have been playing with the patriotic emotions of their people.

“As the time approaches, Greece will try to delay or cancel (Macedonia’s) entry into NATO, but they should be aware that the name issue is one of the few that Albanians and Macedonians are united on. Imposing a name could destabilise political life.” The population is divided largely among ethnic Macedonians (1.3 million) and ethnic Albanians (0.5 million).

The geographic region called Macedonia covers a big part of the Greek north-western territory, a smaller part of south-eastern Bulgaria, and the territory of Macedonia. Greece believes that through its nation building project Macedonia opens a channel for irredentist claims.

“Greece is not afraid of the constitutional name as such,” Evangelos Kofos, an expert on Balkans issues told IPS, “but that through the name it is attempting to align FYROM-Macedonia with the (geographical) Macedonian periphery as the natural ethnic space of the country. This is what today they indirectly identify as a partitioned homeland. The equation materialises in various forms in textbooks, maps, and many other documents and discourses like claiming Alexander the Great’s heritage.”

In the long term, he said, “this would translate into a time bomb. How can Greece accept a country as partner and ally under these conditions?” Despite the disagreement, relations between the two are significant. Greece is the biggest source of foreign direct investment into the neighbouring country (57 percent). Greek interests in the oil industry, construction, textiles, banking sector, telecommunications and other sectors provide thousands of jobs.

Macedonia has also been a recipient of development aid from Greece, which seems prepared to use economic dependency as a pressure tool. According to Kassimis, “Greece does not want to economically strangle (FYROM)…but we are following this policy so they realise that the restoration of smooth ethnic ties will be significant for their growth.”

Macedonia says it is unwilling to negotiate its right to its constitutional name (Republic of Macedonia), which is recognised by 117 countries. Greece is asking for a name that will specify the space over which Macedonia has ethnic and national sovereignty.

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