Macedonia-Russia Deal is no Alternative to EU

The closer ties could offer Macedonian economy bigger penetration at the vast Russian market as well as lure more Russian investments, experts say.

But they “should not be interpreted as straining away from the Brussels agenda” Political analyst from the local Center for Research and Policy Making, NGO, Zhidas Daskalovski told Balkan Insight on Tuesday.

Daskalovski argues that in a situation when Macedonia’s strategic goals of joining NATO and EU are blocked due to the Greek insistence that Macedonia change its name it is natural that the country seeks alternatives to strengthen its economy.

However, “Some big EU member states like Germany and Italy also have close ties with Russia” daskalovski points out.

 In last week’s interview for ITAR TASS news agency, State advisor for foreign affairs of Macedonian President George Ivanov, Darko Kostadinovski hinted that Macedonia and Russia will soon sign a cooperation and friendship memorandum.

He expressed hope that Russian President Dimitry Medvedev will visit Macedonia soon to ink the treaty with his counterpart Ivanov.

“Macedonia is ready for such a deal, as it will boost constant political dialogue and deepen the cooperation in several areas: economy, energy, culture, education, tourism etc”, Kostadinovski said.

Political analyst Vladimir Bozinovski told recently for the Macedonian edition of Radio Free Europe that closer ties with Russia along with the west are of Macedonia’s interest.

“First, there is the economic aspect, especially because Russia in the past few years is the main investor in the energy sector at the Balkans” he pointed out.

Russia recognized Macedonia in 1992, one year after the country declared independence from former Socialist Federative Yugoslavia, SFRY.  Moscow was the first major power in the world to recognize Skopje under its constitutional name - Republic of Macedonia, a fact which is highly appreciated in Macedonia.
 
Since then the two countries have nourished good relations, sighing over 40 bilateral deals.
 
The latest and arguably the most important deal is the one envisaging the Russian state run company Gazprom involvement in the gasification of Macedonia as part of the Russian led South Stream project.

So far the content of the memorandum that is planned to be signed was not revealed. Macedonia has deals for strategic partnership signed with the USA and with Turkey.