It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.
‘Financial Times’ Slates Greek, Slovene Tactics
London | 25 March 2009 |
Photo: EC
Singling out Slovenia and Greece as two chief culprits, the London-based newspaper criticized EU rules on consensus-based decision-making for allowing the two countries to get away with pressurising their neighbours Croatia and Macedonia.
While noting the use of nationalist rhetoric on both sides, the paper said: “All other EU governments oppose Slovenia’s blatant attempt to exploit its membership at the expense of a future entrant.
“But the EU operates by consensus, so Slovenia is getting away with it.”
Turning to Macedonia, the Financial Times said that no logic “underpins Greece’s refusal to let the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia’s aspirations make progress.”
The paper balanced that qualification by noting the Skopje government’s “bizarre” decision to name part of a highway after Alexander the Great, an act which it had said had reduced Macedonia’s friends in the EU to “despair”, and adding: “Nothing was more certain to harden Greek attitudes.”
The international newspaper – its foreign readership now far outweighs its domestic circulation – said the EU would be making a strategic error if it allowed the accession process in the western Balkans, including Serbia and Turkey, to continue to stall.
Urging Brussels to take prompt action to unblock the web of disputes, it said: “The Balkans and Turkey are politically fragile economically vulnerable but strategically important parts of Europe. If they receive the message that they are unwanted, the price the EU will pay be all the greater,” it said.
2009-03-25 20:13:13