Start Date for Macedonia's EU Accession Talks Uncertain

While the issuing of a start date is “very uncertain” due to the open bilateral name row between Skopje and Athens, Dimitar Mircev, former Macedonian ambassador and founder of the European Movement in Macedonia, told Balkan Insight that not all hope is lost.

“If there is no date, it is important [for Skopje] that the EU ministers at least mention the country in their conclusions and encourage its efforts to become a member state,” he said.

Last autumn the European Commission recommended the issuing of a start date for Macedonia’s EU entry talks. However, Greece later blocked this move, citing the unresolved “name” row.

Since then the EU has been pushing for a swift solution to the dispute and said it will review the issuing of a start date once again in June. But Mircev sees no solution on the horizon. He said that for an atmosphere conducive to compromise to be reached the parties will need at least until September or October.

In an interview for Balkan Insight, Slobodan Casule, another former chief of Macedonian diplomacy, argued that despite the ongoing gridlock Skopje should not lose its enthusiasm for EU accession.

If no start date is given “I do not expect anything spectacular to happen in terms of security and stability of the country,” Casule said. He added, however, that the country's opposition parties might take advantage of public confusion and disappointment in order to gain power.
 
Opposition leader Branko Crvenkovski echoed the possibility of changes to the political scene in an interview this weekend. Crvenkovski said that if a name solution is not reached by this autumn the country will have early elections “despite the will of the ruling majority in the parliament”.

Whether or not Skopje will be granted a start date for its EU accession talks at this month’s summit will be uncertain until the last minute, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki said on Monday.

“We feel ready, we believe that the EU will maintain its credibility and will give additional impetus to the process of EU integration,” Milososki explained on the sidelines of a conference on the integration of national minorities in Europe held in Skopje.

The Macedonian foreign minister said that the contest between two groups of countries in the EU, one which believes that the bloc has more important priorities than enlargement and another which thinks that the EU should remain committed to the enlargement process, will determine the outcome.

Athens and Skopje are locked in an 18-year-long spat over the use of the name Macedonia. Athens argues that Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims against its own northern province, which is also called Macedonia.

The ongoing UN led negotiations have so far failed to produce a compromise solution although media have mentioned the possible name Republic of Northern Macedonia as potentially acceptable for both sides.