Macedonia says ‘big step’ made in name row with Greece

06-09-2017

Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias (R) and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. Skopje, 31 August. [Georgi Licovski/EPA]

Macedonia hailed a “big step” towards resolving a quarter-century-old dispute with neighbour Greece on Tuesday (5 September) over its name that has seen it blocked from NATO and European Union membership talks.

Two recent meetings between foreign ministers of the two countries in Athens and Skopje managed to “create friendly ties”, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told reporters.

“It is not a solution but a big step was made” over the name dispute, he added.

#Macedonia PM @Zoran_Zaev presents report to public for the first 100 days of the new government. #ЗборотеЗбор pic.twitter.com/Q9hnrf9l89

— HristijanGjorgievski (@HGjorgievski) September 5, 2017

The quarrel between Skopje and Athens dates back to Macedonia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and has poisoned neighbourly relations.

From the outset, Greece denied its neighbour the right to use the name Macedonia, which is also the name of a northern Greek region.

The issue has damaged ties and Athens blocked Skopje’s entry to the European Union and NATO.

Greece and the EU recognise the small landlocked country by its provisional name, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), under which it was also admitted to the UN.

Macedonia says 'FYROM' name no better than 'Klingon'

Macedonia rejected suggestions on Wednesday (18 July) it could end a row with Greece over its name by adopting an unwieldy acronym instead, saying it was as alien as the “Klingon” language in Star Trek.

Skopje has long insisted that this designation was only provisional, but in June, Zaev, a Social Democrat, seemed to relax the line of his nationalist predecessors.

“I am convinced that today we have better perspectives to resolve this delicate problem,” Zaev said on Tuesday.

Any solution prepared “together with the opposition” will be put a referendum, the prime minister added.

“The final decision will be on the citizens of Macedonia.”

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said during his visit to Skopje last week that his country would back Macedonia’s membership to both the EU and NATO as soon as the name row is resolved.

Zaev-Kotzias: If Macedonia moves forward that will beneficial for the whole region https://t.co/ZyFy5K597h #Macedonia pic.twitter.com/d6aHYoJ0sH

— META.mk News Agency (@meta_mk_en) August 31, 2017

Since Zaev took office, the US and the EU have been pushing the country towards NATO membership and possibly opening EU accession negotiations. Zaev suggested last month in Brussels that his country could join NATO and the EU under a provisional name.

New Macedonia leaders vow to revive EU/NATO bid

Macedonia’s new leaders showed fresh resolve to revive the country’s stalled bid for membership of the EU and NATO on Monday (June 12) by vowing to mend relations with estranged EU neighbours Greece and Bulgaria and implement long-delayed reforms.

During Zaev’s visit to Sofia on 20 June, it was announced that Bulgaria and Macedonia will soon sign a bilateral treaty, removing some obstacles to Skopje’s bid to join NATO and the EU.

Bulgaria and Macedonia start removing hurdles to relations

During new Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s visit to Sofia on Tuesday (20 June), it was announced that Bulgaria and Macedonia will soon sign a bilateral treaty, removing some obstacles to Skopje’s bid to join NATO and the EU.

But ever since, Zaev has been attacked by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party of Nikola Gruevski, claiming that he is betraying the national interest.

Background

Comments

4 responses to “Macedonia says ‘big step’ made in name row with Greece”

Elefterios Mitsos says:

07/09/2017 at 14:27

There will be zero tolerance with FYROM. If Zaev wanted to mend relations with Greece he would have announced the demolition of the grotesque Italian made Hellenic reproduction statues that litter the FYROM landscape, the renaming of the airport in Skopje, the renaming of the highway, the renaming of the football stadium, the removal of the repulsive Baroque Hellenic style facades, the correcting of school carriculum, the removal of the Hellenic symbol on the national flag, the removal of all greater Macedonia maps from government institutions and a heartfelt apolgy to the nation of Greece for his nation being vile for the last two and a half decades. Cultural theft cannot be forgiven easily. Actions speak louder than words. Greeks do not want to hear politicians trying new age diplomacy that they learnt in their political science classes. Dimitrov, Šekerinska, Zaevand all the Slavic Fyromians currently running FYROM are just as dogmatic about an exclusivity of the name as the Gruevski ultra nationalists. There is no scope for negotiation with these antiques. Greece is the victim here. Our history has been hijacked by Fyromian Slavs. Leave our history alone. It’s not a good fit for you. You cannot pronounce nor read the Ancient inscriptions for they are in Greek. If FYROM wants exclusivity to the name Macedonia they will have to change their official language to Greek for this corresponds with the Ancient Macedonian language. We Greeks embrace everyone as a Hellene as long as they speak Greek. You cannot have Bulgarian speaking Slavs of FYROM claiming they are Antiques. It’s ridiculous.
Sekerinska can sit around bagging the VMRO for their crimes but she is just as bad. She claims she is a Slav and a non Antique and in the same breath attacks Greece for not recognizing FYROM. I thought that her hair incident would have knocked some sense into her. Dimitrov has also had a go at it. The fool was part of the negotiation team under Gruevski. He failed miserably because he too will never give up the name. These Slavs are like a dog with a bone but in their case the bone is plastic and has zero marrow.
They know what they have to do and it will never happen. The constitutional name will not change because the antiquated population of FYROM will never vote for it. They have had way too many history lessons from Milenko Nedelkovski. The vile sneaky tactics of attempting to be admitted to NATO and the EU under their provisional FYROM name won’t work either. They are fruitless attempts at diplomacy that not only waste time but also soak up tax payers efforts. Think twice FYROM before attempting negotiations with the Greeks on their history. The Albanian, Roma and Turkish birth rate is twice that of the Slavs. While you lot are busy fixating about exclusivity of your name and your antique culture the non Slavic population of FYROM will become a majority group within their ancient wonderland. The last census was in 2001, these so called minority groups were are 35% collectively. I would hate to think what they are at now. 16 years of fertile breeding has to be worrying for the new government. Back off our history you deluded farm animals.

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petre markovski says:

07/09/2017 at 15:06

The way you talk you Greeks think you own the world,but in fact you have stolen everything.

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- Elefterios Mitsos says:
  
  12/09/2017 at 23:18
  
  when you are the most historically and politically influential people on the planet, and believe me when i say greeks are, you do not negotiate or discuss your matters with culturally engineered bulgarian speaking slavs that have lost their way due to politics.
  
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Zaneta Velkovska says:

25/12/2017 at 01:38

why don’t you go back to the ‘lunatic asylum’ where you belong. the whole world can see that you are a nut case!

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Macedonia says ‘big step’ made in name row with Greece

Macedonia says 'FYROM' name no better than 'Klingon'

New Macedonia leaders vow to revive EU/NATO bid

Bulgaria and Macedonia start removing hurdles to relations

Background

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Mella Frewen, Director General of FoodDrinkEurope

Susan Danger, CEO, AmCham EU

Macedonia says ‘big step’ made in name row with Greece

Macedonia says 'FYROM' name no better than 'Klingon'

New Macedonia leaders vow to revive EU/NATO bid

Bulgaria and Macedonia start removing hurdles to relations

Background

Further Reading

EURACTIV's editorial content is independent from the views of our sponsors.

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Contribute to our reporting

Mella Frewen, Director General of FoodDrinkEurope

Susan Danger, CEO, AmCham EU