Dispute over name will not hinder EU bid, says Macedonian minister

Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki has said that his country is determined to press ahead with attempts to begin negotiations on eventual EU membership, despite clashes with Greece over its name.

“Macedonia will continue to use the power of argument. We regret that Greece has used the arguments of power with regards to the name issue,” he told journalists on Tuesday.

“We want to believe that Greece will also follow the Copenhagen criteria when assessing the country's accession credentials. We have in the past, however, been surprised by Greece,” he added.

Greece says that the name Macedonia implies the country has territorial ownership of a northern Greek province of the same name. The dispute has divided the two regions for 17 years.

The name used by international institutions – including the EU – for the country is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Austrian EPP deputy Othmar Karas added his support to Milososki’s statements. “We hope the name issue will not block Macedonia’s accession to the EU,” he said.

“We will stick to the pro-EU course and we will request that the commission begins negotiations in 2008,” he added.

The recent elections on 1 June in FYROM were marred by violence and electoral fraud, resulting in the country’s state electoral commission cancelling the votes cast in 193 ballot stations.

The will be a rerun of voting in these ballot stations on 15 June.

Milososki conceded that the current political climate means EU membership for his country is likely to be a lengthy process.

“Macedonia remains aware that we are not prepared tomorrow to become a member of the EU, but tomorrow we can start open accession talks,” he said.

“I would like to stress that Macedonia is not perfect, but we are making good progress.”

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