Greek Crisis Takes Macedonia Name Dispute Off Agenda

Macedonian flag | Photo by: Balkan Insight

Though he acknowledged the urgency of the situation, Poposki said in an interview with Radio Free Europe the dispute will not be solved by applying the Croatia-Slovenia model – international arbitration by the EU.

“We are talking about disputes and challenges of a different nature,” he said.

At the heart of the disagreements between Croatia and Slovenia was a border dispute. In 2009 after months of fruitless negotiations, Slovenia and Croatia, with the help of the EU, signed an agreement allowing an international arbitration team to settle the 18-year disagreement over the sea and land border between the two countries.

This resulted in the unblocking of the Croatian EU accession talks. It was recommended this year that Croatia becomes the next country to join EU.

Poposki’s predecessor, Antonio Milososki, was also opposed to using the Croatia-Slovenia model to solve the dispute with Greece.

Poposki took on the job of foreign minister after the June general elections that confirmed the dominance of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

In the interview Poposki says that Macedonia has no alternatives to NATO and EU membership which have been blocked by Greece over the name dispute.

Athens argues that use of the name Macedonia suggests a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name. In 2008 it blocked Macedonia’s NATO invitation and one year later it used its influence in the EU to prevent the start of the Macedonian EU accession talks despite recommendations from the European Commission.