Macedonia Survey Raises Euroscepticism Concern

“I don't think that skepticism prevails,” Fouere told media on Tuesday in the country's capital. “The huge support for the EU and the will to be part of that family of nations is felt everywhere. If such skepticism exists, then it is an insignificant minority.”

A survey released earlier this month by the Macedonian Secretariat for European Affairs, SEA, reveals a seven per cent drop in support for Macedonia's EU membership bid among respondents.

82.1 per cent of ethnic Macedonians queried said that for them the preservation of the name Republic of Macedonia was more important than the EU and NATO accession of their country. In contrast, 77.8 percent of the ethnic Albanian respondents opted for EU and NATO membership before the name.

“We're still reviewing these reports, but I have to say that they are contrary to earlier polls demonstrating huge support of the citizens for the EU integration process. I believe this is still the primary objective of citizens because they see the EU integration as a guarantee for a better future, more jobs and lower unemployment rate,” Fouere said.

He reiterated that Macedonian authorities should do more in order to meet the needs of the people, including strengthening the democratic atmosphere and political dialogue.

Among other things the survey showed that only three per cent of respondents felt like Europeans while 65 per cent said they felt solely Macedonian.

While the country's vice prime minister in charge of EU affairs, Vasko Naumovski, has kept silent about the latest results, his predecessor Ivica Bocevski harshly criticized him for deciding to conduct this type of survey and release it in public.

“Who needs to dispute the European identity of the Macedonian nation at a time when the country is struggling to obtain a start date for its EU accession talks and when our main argument in the name dispute is  precisely our European values,” Bocevski said.

He argued that the poll released by the state shows the failure of the SEA, which is the institution in charge of the country’s EU accession bid.

“If the name spat with Greece is solved, I think that [EU] support will rise again,” Vladimir Bozinovski from the Institute for Political research told media. The Skopje-based institute conducted the opinion poll that was commissioned by the SEA.

He said that the responsibility for devising the poll questions and the decision to publicize the results falls entirely on the SEA.

Macedonia's EU and NATO accession bids are stalled because of the unresolved name spat between Skopje and Greece, a long time member of both organisations that is effectively blocking its smaller neighbour from joining the two blocs.

Athens demands that Skopje change its official name, the Republic of Macedonia, arguing that the name implies Skopje’s territorial claims against its own northern province, which is also called Macedonia.

Efforts are currently being made to solve the issue within the UN-mediated bilateral name talks, while international pressure to find a compromise has been mounting since 2008, when Greece imposed its first veto against Macedonia in the country's bid to join NATO.

However, the UN led process has not produced any visible results thus far, and the two parties have remained firm in their positions.