By Apostolis Fotiadis
ATHENS, Feb 11 2008 (IPS)

The countdown has begun to the NATO summit in Bucharest Apr. 2-4 where Macedonia expects to be invited to join the alliance.

But there is still no progress in negotiations over the name of the Republic of Macedonia, disputed by Greece. An end to the dispute is considered essential for Macedonia to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), of which Greece is already a member.

Greece has since 1991 challenged the right of its neighbour of two million to use the name Republic of Macedonia. Greece objects to the name because that is the name also of a northern Greek province.

In an outbreak of the crisis in 1993, Greece placed a costly embargo on Macedonia for more than 18 months. Back then some saw in this an indirect attempt to support Serbia by pushing Macedonia to enhance trade flows and economic relations with Milosevic’s regime, then suffering under United Nations sanctions.

Negotiations led to United Nations Resolution 817 signed in September 1995 that obliged the two countries to hold discussions under the auspices of the U.N. until a commonly acceptable solution could be found. Greece then recognised its adversary as temporarily the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, and re-established economic relations.

Since then there have been talks but no solution.

The enlargement of NATO is considered an opportunity to resolve the name dispute, and international diplomacy has pushed over the last few months for a compromise.

Macedonia declares it is determined to enter NATO with its constitutional name intact. Greece is determined to stop it unless it finds an alternative name. Macedonia disagrees that the name dispute is linked to NATO membership; Greece insists that it cannot accept Macedonia as partner in NATO without reaching agreement on the name first.

“It would be important for the further and final stabilisation of the region if Macedonia, Croatia and Albania were invited at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit (to become members of the alliance),” says a letter Macedonian President Branko Crvenkoski delivered to NATO members ambassadors Feb. 5.

“As a neighbour of Serbia and Kosovo, it is clear that Macedonia will be among the first to face the positive but also negative impact of the risks involved in defining the future status of Kosovo,” he wrote.

In addition to restating how important it is for Macedonia to enter Euro-Atlantic structures, the letter underlined concern about Greece’s insistence to block the accession of Macedonia.

A NATO progress report on Macedonia published at the beginning of December found that despite obvious progress the country needs to work intensively until April to meet accession criteria.

Intending to put pressure on the country’s leadership, it mentioned serious weakness in the internal political situation, in the structure and function of the state, and the relations between Slavo-Macedonians and Albanians.

Macedonia’s social fabric has been damaged deeply by the ethnic civil war in 2001 between the Albanian and the Slavo-Macedonian people. The population is divided largely among ethnic Macedonians (1.3 million) and ethnic Albanians (0.5 million).

The report led to intense political debate in Macedonia, where 90 percent of public opinion is in favour of joining NATO.

Pressure has also been put on Greece, but to no avail. Greek foreign minister Dora Bakogianni is expected to confirm that Greece will veto Macedonia’s accession at her meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice due Feb. 13-14.

The Greek government, facing protests over corruption scandals, would pay dearly if seen to surrender national interests.

NATO will formally take a decision on new members at a meeting Mar. 6-7. Ahead of that, U.N. special mediator Matthew Nimitz will invite Greece and Macedonia for further talks. A compromise does not appear likely.

“It is obvious that many wrongdoings have been done by our government regarding the name issue,” Goran Momirovski, a Macedonian and former spokesperson of the U.N. in Macedonian capital Skopje told IPS.

According to Momirovski the government’s initiatives deflected focus from essential issues. “Moves like changing the Skopje airport name (to Alexander the Great) and setting up ancient Macedonian sculptures in front of the government building were counterproductive.”

Alkis Rigos, professor of political science at the Panteion University of Social Sciences in Athens, was critical on the other hand of Greek policies.

“Instead of asking for a name that would specify the space over which Macedonia has ethnic and national sovereignty, we made this an ideological issue, and went to the extreme end with the slogan ‘Macedonia is Greek’,” Rigos told IPS.

“Our political strategy led us nowhere, and today 117 countries have recognised it (Macedonia) with its constitutional name,” Rigos said.

“Perhaps the only way out is a long-term freezing of the issue, which means that the two countries should sign a new friendship agreement and leave aside the name dispute for 20 years,” says Momirovski.

“Meanwhile the two nations should work on establishing better cultural and economic relations. I know this is not an acceptable option for Athens nowadays but what is the alternative?”

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