MEP warns over Macedonia's EU membership bid

Macedonia's status as a candidate for EU membership could be long and protracted, Erik Meijer has warned.

Parliament's rapporteur for the progress of the accession of the former Yuglosav republic used an article in The Parliament Magazine to claim that the name dispute with Greece is yet another hindrance to its accession.

Read the full text of the article below:

On 21 January the European parliament’s foreign affairs committee (AFET) voted on my report on the progress of the admission process for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In 2005 this state became a candidate for EU membership, but to date the commission and council have seen no need to begin admission negotiations. In the cases of Croatia and Turkey, which have both been candidates since 2005, negotiations have indeed begun. Croatia’s admission is expected in 2011, but Macedonia seems to have been completely forgotten. Other applicants for EU membership, such as Albania, Kosovo, Moldavia, Montenegro and Serbia – the Serbs may even be offered candidate status this year – will see that the status of ‘candidate member’ no longer means a thing if it does not deliver any progress.

Perhaps it was this gloomy prospect that persuaded AFET to be generous in its judgement. A number of my proposed critical texts, which were based on my own first-hand observations within Macedonia, surprisingly failed to garner a majority. This meant, for instance, that the text on last year’s partially disrupted parliamentary elections did not include a reference to the fact that the governing parties had done little in advance to prevent acts of violence, though these could have been foreseen. In addition, the majority was unwilling to support my proposal calling attention to the growing number of exemplary arrests. Conducted on TV, these arrests involve well-known members of the opposition, without any conclusive evidence of their guilt being presented against them. The majority also considered the objection that citizens’ complaints against state institutions, which often maintain no archives, are not worth a mention. Equally, the majority was not willing to endorse disapproval of emergency procedures, which meant that just after the elections an extensive package of legislation was adopted with no opportunity for the opposition to participate in the process.

This generosity cannot, however, speed up accession. The reason is to be found in a lingering difference of opinion over the country’s name. For Greece, ‘Macedonia’ means a part of its own country. The possibility that the Greeks will be prepared to accept the use of the same name by their neighbours is dependent on the addition of a second, qualifying word, one which indicates the difference, such as ‘North’ or ‘Upper’ Macedonia. AFET has expressed not only its support for this proposal by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz, but also the hope that the name will no longer present an obstacle to the country’s accession to international organisations. Such a moral call on Greece will not, however, erase the right of every EU member (and Nato member) to veto newcomers. The desire to avoid a Greek veto whatever the price is perhaps the real reason for the inertia exhibited by commission and council.

Now that Macedonia has also demonstrated its unshakeable intention to bring its complaint over last year’s Greek rejection of its application to join Nato before international court of justice in The Hague, a renewed stalemate will result. Each party is waiting for the other to blink. The first hearing in this case is not expected for some three years. Then, both states will present their case. After that, the EU accession process could experience protracted stagnation. Whether the outcome will be a delay of 10, 20 or 30 years is impossible to say, but the chance exists that other former Yugoslav republics, which are not yet even candidates, will be full members before Macedonia. My fear is that other MEPs will be acting as rapporteurs on this matter long after my retirement.

The latest issue of the Parliament Magazine is now available in the digital online archive

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