Macedonia debate clouds NATO expansion

[yiozik]

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BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO nations cranked up pressure on Greece to allow Macedonia to join the alliance, saying Thursday that the two countries should work harder to resolve a bitter dispute over competing claims to the name Macedonia.

Macedonia, along with Croatia and Albania, is hoping to be invited to join NATO at an alliance summit next month. But Greece has threatened to veto Macedonia's entry because of the dispute.

Greece says the name of Macedonia, which broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, implies a claim to the Greek northern region with the same name. Other allies appealed to the two countries to come to an agreement in U.N.-led talks before the Bucharest meeting starts on April 2.

U.N. mediator Matthew Nimetz has proposed five alternative names that Macedonia could consider adopting: Constitutional Republic of Macedonia, Democratic Republic of Macedonia, Independent Republic of Macedonia, New Republic of Macedonia, and Republic of Upper Macedonia.

NATO nations said that excluding Macedonia from NATO could add to instability in the Balkan region, which is already tense over Kosovo's recent declaration of independence from Serbia.

"Given the importance of what's at stake, there is a need to find an agreement," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

"A name cannot be an objection for the accession of a country," said his Dutch counterpart, Maxime Verhagen.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. hoped an agreement could be found in the talks so that countries that meet NATO's requirements could be admitted to the alliance.

Greece, however, showed little sign of backing down.

"As long as there is no solution (on the name) there will be an insurmountable obstacle," Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said. She accused Greece's northern neighbor of taking an "intransigent" and "nationalistic" stance.

Membership bids by Ukraine and Georgia also divided the alliance, with several allies expressing concern that opening up to the former Soviet nations would worsen NATO's already strained relations with Russia.

Ukraine and Georgia have asked NATO to give them an official road map to alliance membership at next month's summit in Bucharest, Romania — a move strongly opposed by Moscow, which is wary of the eastern expansion of its old Cold War foe.

Although new NATO members in eastern Europe backed the former Soviet republics, Germany, France and others expressed concern about further antagonizing Moscow when relations are already strained over Kosovo, missile defense and arms control in Europe.

European diplomats said it would be a mistake to alienate Russia at a time when the election of President-elect Dmitry Medvedev presented an opportunity to revive relations that nose-dived under Vladimir Putin.

If Albania, Croatia and Macedonia get the invitation in Bucharest, it's expected to take at least two years before they join NATO.

[Greek-cowboy]

Is there any new developments?

[Prokomenos]

I heard that our government actually vetoed them. I hope that is true.

[Angelo]

Greece declines Macedonia NATO membership due to name dispute



BRUSSELS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Greece on Thursday refused to invite its neighbor Macedonia to join NATO due to a decades-old name dispute.

"As far as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is concerned, I stressed to our allies that unfortunately, the policy that was followed by the government of our neighboring country ...does not allow us to take the same positive stance as in the case of Croatia and Albania," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni told reporters after a meeting with her counterparts of NATO members.

Together with Croatia and Albania, Macedonia is one of the hopefuls to be invited to join NATO at the military alliance's summit next month in Bucharest, capital of Romania but its bid has been overshadowed by the issue of the country's name.

Greece has long argued that Macedonia implies territorial claim to a northern Greek province which bears the same name as Macedonia.

The dispute began in 1946 when the People's Republic of Macedonia was established as part of Yugoslavia and escalated when the republic announced independence in 1991.

Bakoyanni said the past 15 years of fruitless negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations left Greece with no other choice.

"Greece was therefore unable to provide its consent to the invitation, as I stressed to my fellow colleagues," she said, adding her country is ready to use veto power.

The founding treaty of NATO provides that the member states can, through a unanimous decision, invite any other European state to join the alliance, which means Greece's veto could successfully block Macedonia's bid for NATO membership.

With less than one month to go before the summit, Bakoyanni said she still hopes for a mutually acceptable and practical solution, which should be implemented immediately.

Greece has insisted that Macedonia is properly known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in international organizations such as NATO. But the majority of UN members have recognized Macedonia under its constitutional name -- the Republic of Macedonia.

U.N. envoy Matthew Nimetz has reportedly put forward a proposal, which identifies five name suggestions including Constitutional Republic of Macedonia, Democratic Republic of Macedonia, Independent Republic of Macedonia, New Republic of Macedonia and Republic of Upper Macedonia.

"It will contain the name Macedonia, but it will not monopolize Macedonia," Bakoyanni said, referring to an acceptable choice for the new name.

Bakoyanni warned defiance by Macedonia would deny the Balkan country a future both in NATO and the European Union (EU), of which Greece is also a member.

The entry of Macedonia into NATO appeared to be one of the major sticky issues when foreign ministers of the 26-nation transatlantic alliance met Thursday.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would like to see Macedonia join NATO together with Croatia and Albania, but the coming weeks of negotiations with Greece was crucial.

"I would like all three countries to join," Steinmeier told reporters ahead of the meeting, "A lot depends on the question of whether these two states are going to be able to come closer together in the coming weeks."



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[Ellinas]

Don't get deceived by the wangles of the government. ND is reacting now that the Skopians want to keep their constitutional name (they can't do otherwise) but soon the Skopians are going to "retreat" by accepting one of Nimic's compound names like <Upper Macedonia> and our treacherous government is going to agree. Macedonia is being sold with any of these compound names.

Everything is planned in advance. The Skopians are just trying to win a bit more ground - they know that no matter what, they will be the ones who will earn in the end of this story as long as ND (should be called NA: New Americanocracy) is the government of Greece.

[Napalm]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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Don't get deceived by the wangles of the government. ND is reacting now that the Skopians want to keep their constitutional name (they can't do otherwise) but soon the Skopians are going to "retreat" by accepting one of Nimic's compound names like <Upper Macedonia> and our treacherous government. Macedonia is being sold with any of these compound names.

Everything is planned in advance. The Skopians are just trying to win a bit more ground - they know that no matter what, they will be the ones who will earn in the end of this story as long as ND (should be called NA: New Americanocracy) is the government of Greece.

I agree, skops will pick one of the names, still call themselves "macedonians" then play the victim card.

[Prokomenos]

Thats a given and Im sure the name they choose will include macedonia in it.

[Napalm]

I think Greece should make a list of acceptable names (without Macedonia) and very aggresively lobby to get them to change to one of these names. THen Greece could counter their victim card by saying it is Skopje being unreasonable.
The list could include names like
Skopje
Vardaska
Republic of South Serbia
Republic of West Bulgaria

[TooGreek]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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Don't get deceived by the wangles of the government. ND is reacting now that the Skopians want to keep their constitutional name (they can't do otherwise) but soon the Skopians are going to "retreat" by accepting one of Nimic's compound names like <Upper Macedonia> and our treacherous government is going to agree. Macedonia is being sold with any of these compound names.

Everything is planned in advance. The Skopians are just trying to win a bit more ground - they know that no matter what, they will be the ones who will earn in the end of this story as long as ND (should be called NA: New Americanocracy) is the government of Greece.

All political parties in Greece have agreed upon the same issue as to what names FYROM is allowed to use and that agreement took place in our parliament.

Had any one of those parties been in charge, FYROM's choices would have been precisely the same.

Recently our secretary of state told the prime minister of FYROM Nikola Grouefski (who under desperation took a cheap shot at the Greek politics) the following:

The Greek government under any governing party or composition of parties will impose the same demands about the name issue and will never ratify any of your demands.

Ellinas I agree with you on the FYROM's old technics but I also think that you overreacting.
It is obvious that you dislike ND but it was the communists who almost sold our entire country a few years ago and this site, if it existed, it would have been called grekofsky realgamatova.

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by TooGreek
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All political parties in Greece have agreed upon the same issue as to what names FYROM is allowed to use and that agreement took place in our parliament.

Had any one of those parties been in charge, FYROM's choices would have been precisely the same.

Recently our secretary of state told the prime minister of FYROM Nikola Grouefski (who under desperation took a cheap shot at the Greek politics) the following:

The Greek government under any governing party or composition of parties will impose the same demands about the name issue and will never ratify any of your demands.

Ellinas I agree with you on the FYROM's old technics but I also think that you overreacting.
It is obvious that you dislike ND but it was the communists who almost sold our entire country a few years ago and this site, if it existed, it would have been called grekofsky realgamatova.

Not all political parties of the Parliament have agreed - ND, PASOK, Synaspismos and KKE have agreed. LAOS demands a name which isn't going to include the word "Macedonia". In this issue I second them.