Balkans 2008: Macedonia -- neither NATO membership, nor EU accession negotiations (PART I)

In 2008, Macedonia did not get a definite date for the start of the negotiations over country's accession to the European Union. Neither did the country get the long-awaited invitation for NATO membership. Things have clear explanation – no solution was found to Macedonia's name dispute. The year was also marked by early general elections.

European and European-Atlantic integration
The beginning of the year seemed promising for Skopje, as the European Unions was presided by Slovenia. One of the prior tasks before the Slovenian EU presidency was to stir up the European perspective of Skopje. However, it did not happen. Despite the progress registered in terms of meeting the EU criteria, some member states felt reserved about Macedonia's EU membership. This reservation was explained not only with the tension between Macedonians and Albanians, but also with the EU's enlargement exhaustion. Thus, the talks over the date for the start of the pre-accession negotiations with the Balkan country were postponed for the future.

In 2008, Macedonia did not manage to cross NATO's threshold. At the summit meeting of the Alliance, organized in April in Bucharest, the country did not receive a membership invitation. Greece took advantage of its right to impose a veto, which it grounded with the unsolved Macedonia's name dispute. The name issue remains unsolved for yet another year.

There were several meetings of the negotiating teams and the special UN mediator Matthew Nimitz. In 2008, Nimitz did not offer concrete solution but a “package of ideas”, providing key directions leading to some solution. However, neither of the proposals was officially announced. There was information that there are proposals such as “Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)” and “Republic of North Macedonia”. Athens, on the other hand, said it would be an allowance for it to accept a derivative name containing the word “Macedonia”. It was said that Washington has a plan for solution, which was negotiated with Skopje. The official authorities denied the information. Anyway, the problem is still unsolved.

Over the last moths, there were several events that could possibly bear some effect on the development of the name dispute. The White House has a brand new president – Barack O[bam]a. However, it is believed that the new president will not consider the Macedonian - Greek problem a priority. There were reshuffles in Macedonia's negotiating team. The government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski decided to file a claim against Greece at the International Court of Justice in Hague over violation of the Interim Accord of September 1995, which obliges Greece not to hamper Skopje's membership in international organizations under the name of Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

The ruling's decision, however, did not find good response – neither abroad, nor in the country itself. President Branko Crvenkovski declared that precious time has been lost with that claim. According to experts, the case at Hague could take two to five years.

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