Macedonia Responds to Greek Arguments Before World Court

Macedonian FM Antonio Milososki speaking in the court | Photo by: ICJ

As it presented its arguments last week, Athens rejected Skopje’s claims that it broke the 1995 bilateral UN accord by blocking Macedonia from joining NATO in 2008, the source of Macedonia's suit against Greece.

Macedonia's reply to the Greek defence will again focus on arguing that Athens objected to Skopje's NATO membership bid at the 2008 alliance summit over the bilateral name dispute, while it had no right to do so, according to documents submitted to the Court.

The Macedonian team will argue that since the country was referred to under its UN interim name, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, FYROM, and because it submitted its membership application under the same name, Greece had no grounds to object.

Macedonia sued Greece at the ICJ in 2009 for blocking its accession to NATO in 2008 over Macedonia's unresolved name dispute.

Skopje argues that the blockade violates the 1995 UN-brokered Interim Accord, which obliges Athens not to block the accession of its neighbour to international organisations so long as Macedonia uses its agreed reference.

Last week the Greek team insisted that it cannot be sued for blocking Macedonia’s NATO accession because the decision not to invite Macedonia to join in 2008 was reached by all members of the Alliance, which is seen in the joint NATO communiqué issued after the summit.

The Macedonian team will reply that the consensus in the NATO decision-making process cannot protect Greece from the consequences of its objection to Macedonia's membership, regardless of whether the objection is qualified as a "veto".

In response to Greece's assertion that the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over NATO decisions, the Macedonian team will present arguments saying that the suit refers to Greece's conduct alone and not that of NATO and its member states.

The case entered its decision phase last week with the start of the public hearing. It will be completed with the concluding remarks from Greece on March 30.

The ICJ verdict, which is final and binding for UN member-states and parties in the dispute, is expected within six months or by the year-end, observers say, based on previous ICJ experiences.

As the ICJ case continues in The Hague, UN mediated talks between Skopje and Athens over their long standing name dispute have seen little progress in recent months.

Athens objects to Skopje’s formal name, Republic of Macedonia, saying that this implies territorial claims towards its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

The row escalated in 2008 after the NATO summit, and in late 2009, Greek objections to Macedonia's name prevented the EU from extending a start date for Macedonia's accession talks with the bloc, despite a previous recommendation from the European Commission for negotiations to start.