ZANA P. BOZINOVSKA AND SVETLANA JOVANOVSKA
18.11.2010 @ 10:42 CET
Macedonia has no hope left for a last-minute invitation to join Nato at the alliance's summit in Lisbon this weekend (19-20 November), as its naming dispute remains unresolved.
Suggestions made by representatives of the Macedonian authorities to admit their country under its provisional name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) will not turn the tide.
18.11.2010 @ 10:42 CET
Macedonia has no hope left for a last-minute invitation to join Nato at the alliance's summit in Lisbon this weekend (19-20 November), as its naming dispute remains unresolved.
Suggestions made by representatives of the Macedonian authorities to admit their country under its provisional name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) will not turn the tide.
"The decision of Bucharest was not changed. We decided that accession negotiations with Skopje can begin and continue only after a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue has been found," said Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, speaking the pre-summit press conference in Brussels earlier this week.
"This remains the position of Nato. According to what I know, unfortunately, no solution to the name issue was found and I do not expect any in the few days remaining to the summit." Mr Rasmussen added that Nato's doors remained open to countries that met the criteria.
The Danish Nato chief referred to the 2008 summit in Bucharest where Macedonian membership was blocked by Greece. The two countries have long been at loggerheads over Macedonia's name, with Athens asking its northern neighbour to add a geographical modifier to distinguish it from Greece's northern province of the same name. The negotiations under UN auspices have not yet produced a solution and Greece continues to prevent Macedonia from joining.
Macedonian officials still entertain hope that the country could enter Nato under the provisional name it is referred to in the United Nations. In 1995, Greece and Macedonia signed an interim accord which stipulates that the latter may be a member of international organisations when referred to as Fyrom. Macedonia hopes that, when it comes to Nato membership, Greece will respect this agreement, especially after Nato concluded that the country fulfils all criteria for membership.
In an interview with Macedonian press agency MIA, the country's defence minister Zoran Konjanovski said he was neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the Lisbon summit. According to Mr Konjanovski, Macedonia wants to be part of the meeting's agenda to send out a clear message that it is the country most ready to join Nato, the minister asserted.
Mr Konjanovski believes that a surprise is still possible if Nato objectively evaluates the country's efforts at reform, regional and bilateral cooperation and its contribution to the alliance's missions. He said that Macedonia could accede to Nato under the provisional Fyrom denomination if it became clear that no compromise with Greece was in sight.
But Greek sources said these announcements were distractions. "It is not good to create an impression of something impossible. At the same time, the fact that the Balkans are in a critical situation should not be neglected and it is no good to keep the country out of the EU and Nato," a Greek diplomat said.
This analysis, at least, is shared in Macedonia. "After the Nato Summit in Lisbon and after the EU Summit in December the situation in Macedonia will become more complex," former interior minister Pavle Trajanov said.
Politicians and analysts fear Macedonia could be headed for bitter political infighting, economic isolation, inter-ethnic and social tension if it is left out in the cold.
It is not even clear whether the hopes of Macedonian politicians to see the matter placed on the agenda in Lisbon will be fulfilled.
"This summit is not an enlargement summit," a Nato diplomat said. "But in more general terms, the leaders will confirm the open doors policy and probably reiterate the Bucharest summit conclusions on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."
"The engagement of Nato in Afghanistan, the alliance's relations with Russia and EU-US relations will be the main topics at the upcoming summit," said Philip T. Reeker, US ambassador to Skopje. Mr Reeker confirmed that America would continue to support the country's efforts to join Nato and the EU.
Analysts believe the Fyrom option suggested by Mr Konjanovski is unrealistic. Aleksandar Matovski, an expert on international politics at Cornell University in the US, said Greece would not be ready accept such a deal.
"It is very unlikely that any initiative that can antagonise any member state, as would the proposal to enter Macedonia as Fyrom, could be forced through at this summit," Mr Matovski said.
The US, anxious to obtain maximum support from its partners on key issues such as Afghanistan or relations with Russia, would not be prepared to force its allies' hands over Macedonia's entry into Nato. Former US president George Bush tried to just that in Bucharest in 2008, but failed.
"This remains the position of Nato. According to what I know, unfortunately, no solution to the name issue was found and I do not expect any in the few days remaining to the summit." Mr Rasmussen added that Nato's doors remained open to countries that met the criteria.
The Danish Nato chief referred to the 2008 summit in Bucharest where Macedonian membership was blocked by Greece. The two countries have long been at loggerheads over Macedonia's name, with Athens asking its northern neighbour to add a geographical modifier to distinguish it from Greece's northern province of the same name. The negotiations under UN auspices have not yet produced a solution and Greece continues to prevent Macedonia from joining.
Macedonian officials still entertain hope that the country could enter Nato under the provisional name it is referred to in the United Nations. In 1995, Greece and Macedonia signed an interim accord which stipulates that the latter may be a member of international organisations when referred to as Fyrom. Macedonia hopes that, when it comes to Nato membership, Greece will respect this agreement, especially after Nato concluded that the country fulfils all criteria for membership.
In an interview with Macedonian press agency MIA, the country's defence minister Zoran Konjanovski said he was neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the Lisbon summit. According to Mr Konjanovski, Macedonia wants to be part of the meeting's agenda to send out a clear message that it is the country most ready to join Nato, the minister asserted.
Mr Konjanovski believes that a surprise is still possible if Nato objectively evaluates the country's efforts at reform, regional and bilateral cooperation and its contribution to the alliance's missions. He said that Macedonia could accede to Nato under the provisional Fyrom denomination if it became clear that no compromise with Greece was in sight.
But Greek sources said these announcements were distractions. "It is not good to create an impression of something impossible. At the same time, the fact that the Balkans are in a critical situation should not be neglected and it is no good to keep the country out of the EU and Nato," a Greek diplomat said.
This analysis, at least, is shared in Macedonia. "After the Nato Summit in Lisbon and after the EU Summit in December the situation in Macedonia will become more complex," former interior minister Pavle Trajanov said.
Politicians and analysts fear Macedonia could be headed for bitter political infighting, economic isolation, inter-ethnic and social tension if it is left out in the cold.
It is not even clear whether the hopes of Macedonian politicians to see the matter placed on the agenda in Lisbon will be fulfilled.
"This summit is not an enlargement summit," a Nato diplomat said. "But in more general terms, the leaders will confirm the open doors policy and probably reiterate the Bucharest summit conclusions on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia."
"The engagement of Nato in Afghanistan, the alliance's relations with Russia and EU-US relations will be the main topics at the upcoming summit," said Philip T. Reeker, US ambassador to Skopje. Mr Reeker confirmed that America would continue to support the country's efforts to join Nato and the EU.
Analysts believe the Fyrom option suggested by Mr Konjanovski is unrealistic. Aleksandar Matovski, an expert on international politics at Cornell University in the US, said Greece would not be ready accept such a deal.
"It is very unlikely that any initiative that can antagonise any member state, as would the proposal to enter Macedonia as Fyrom, could be forced through at this summit," Mr Matovski said.
The US, anxious to obtain maximum support from its partners on key issues such as Afghanistan or relations with Russia, would not be prepared to force its allies' hands over Macedonia's entry into Nato. Former US president George Bush tried to just that in Bucharest in 2008, but failed.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου