NATO setback upsets Macedonia's EU hopes

Dimitar Mircev, president of the European Movement and an ex-Macedonian ambassador, told EurActiv that the news from Bucharest was "bad", but he did not expect any dramatic repercussions in the coming months. Nevertheless, he warned that Macedonia may cancel its 1995 interim agreement with Greece, which he says commits Greece to supporting the accession of Macedonia to international organisations. 

"This means automatically cancelling the negotiations we now have with Greece. This is the most serious issue," Mircev warned. He nevertheless said he was not worried about the EU perspectives of his country, because a similar obstruction from Greece could not come before 2013, when Macedonia expects to have its accession treaty ratified by EU countries. 

Micev called the Greek claims that Macedonia has violated good neighbourly relations by stealing parts of its ancient history "ridiculous". "We are a small country, we are not members of NATO or of the EU, we are not equal partners, we are not appropriating anyone's history," he said. 

Goran Momiroski, diplomatic editor  at A1 Television in Macedonia, told EurActiv Romania that the Greek veto on NATO membership would "definitely burden the process of Euroatlantic integration because we have put so much effort in the last 15 years into joining NATO and the European Union". "We were dealing according to the criteria given to us by NATO and Brussels, and at the end of the day it seems that these criteria are irelevant," he added.

Momiroski also believes the setback in Bucharest will slow down the reform process in his country. "It will also burden the political life in the country as very soon we are going to have the elections. We will lose another year, maybe, until the new government is established. It will definitely burden the country's EU report that is expected in November." 

"Practically there are so many problems that derive from this decision at the NATO Summit that will have a negative influence on Macedonian political life," he concluded. 

Bulgarian MEP Evgeni Kirilov told EurActiv that the setback for Macedonia at the summit was "logical". "It seems that the Macedonian authorities have still to learn about how to conduct sincere good neighbourly relations not only with Greece, but also with Bulgaria," he stated. Kirilov explained that the issue behind the story was not only in the 'name', but also the "manipulation by Skopje of the ancient history of Greece and the medieval and more recent history of Bulgaria". 

He added that his country was ready to help Macedonia to understand the situation and avoid destabilising the country, "because otherwise there are risks of slowing down the EU integration process". 

Green MEP Angelika Beer, her party's spokeswoman for security policy and coordinator for foreign policy, said in a statement: "Greece's veto of a membership invitation to NATO gives an enlightened insight into Greece's stance towards Euro-Atlantic integration. Macedonia has worked hard for its EU and NATO membership perspective, which does not deserve to be blocked by the absurd Greek slogan of 'Macedonia remains Greek'. Greece herewith violates international standards […] calling into question Athens' commitment as a NATO member." 

Sabine Fraser  from the International Crisis Group told EurActiv that the fact that NATO could not extend an invitation to Macedonia was very disappointing. Describing the decision as "a setback for security," she said it was regrettable that Greece took such a hardline position. She stressed that the situation in the Western Balkans was "very sensitive" right now, particularly because of Kosovo. 

"Macedonia has been a stabilising force for the region, it has been generally a positive partner with regard to Kosovo, therefore if Macedonia had become a NATO member, this would have stabilised the region even more," Fraser explained. Although she said there should be no link between Macedonia's NATO and EU accessions, Fraser feared the same 'name' problem could hamper Skopje's EU accession efforts.