‘Grécia lança solução para a disputa sobre o nome Macedónia‘ in EU Observer

A senior Greek official has indicated that Athens is ready to accept the name 'Northern Macedonia' for its northern neighbour, in a development that could bring an end to the 19-year-old title dispute that has hampered Skopje's EU membership ambitions.

"The name 'Northern Macedonia' fits with the settlement as envisaged" by Athens, Greek deputy foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas told national media on Monday (5 April).

Should Macedonian leader Nikola Gruevski reject this proposal "he will have to explain to the Macedonian people why he is depriving them of their European prospects," Mr Droutsas added.

Currently referred to as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in official terminology, Athens is strongly opposed to a shortening of the country's name to simply "Macedonia," a title already used by a northern province in Greece.

The jealous guarding of the regional name has lead Athens to campaign against international recognition of its northern neighbour under the title of Macedonia, an independent nation following the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991.

The Greek administration also insists that the issue must be resolved before Skopje can enter into EU accession discussions, a process that requires unanimous support from the bloc's full complement of members.

An indication that a potential solution was being worked on came in late February when senior UN mediator Matthew Nimetz said Athens and Skopje shared grounds for resolving the dispute, suggesting any future name for FYROM could include a "geographical determinant." [...]

Ver notícia no EU Observer

‘UE dá luz verde à abertura de negociações de adesão com a Macedónia‘ in EU Observer

The European Commission on Wednesday (14 October) issued a series of assessments of countries hoping to join the EU and said enlargement should not be made a "scapegoat" of Europe's current economic problems.

The reports contained the usual Brussels mix of criticism interspersed with praise and rewards for progress towards EU norms.

The small republic of Macedonia was told that it was ready to start membership talks, a move that would put it on the same level as Croatia and Turkey in terms of EU relations.

EU commissioner Olli Rehn, in charge of enlargement, said the Macedonian government should see the move as "very strong encouragement" to "finally settle the name issue," however. The reference concerns an 18-year old dispute between Macedonia and neighbouring Greece about the use of the name Macedonia.

Croatia, hoping to join the EU in 2011, is "nearing the finishing line" after years of negotiations, said Mr Rehn, but needs to further tackle corruption and organised crime "before negotiations can be concluded."

The commission report urges Turkey to do more to ensure freedom of expression and freedom of religion as well as bolster the rights of women and trade unions.

Ankara has been lagging far behind Zagreb in its EU progress in part due to poor relations with EU member Cyprus, with whom it still has to fully implement a customs agreement. Progress is also slow due to a lack of enthusiasm on the part of several member states for Turkish membership and the pace of Turkish domestic reform.

But with Turkey itself lately taking a more bullish tone about what it can offer the EU in terms of energy security, Brussels was careful to stress the country's importance for "energy supplies" and "promoting dialogue with civilisations."

Of the remaining five entities - Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo - that want to join the EU, Mr Rehn had the most to say about Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The war-torn country was recently given an ultimatum by the EU and the US to sort out internal problems between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs by 20 October.

Defining the country as of "paramount importance for the region and for the European Union," Mr Rehn said that Bosnia and Herzegovina could only consider an application for EU membership once it "can stand on its own two feet."

"No quasi-protectorate can join the EU," he said, spelling out that the Office of High Representative would have to be closed down first. The post was created as part of the peace deal that ended the 1992-1995 war in the country, and can only be closed after a positive international assessment.

Meanwhile, the Serbian government, which is being pushed to arrest two war crimes suspects from the 1990s, was praised for being "stable" and "demonstrating" a high degree of consensus on EU integration as a strategic priority."

But even as the EU tries to bind all of the countries of the western Balkans and Turkey ever more closely through political and economic ties and the promise of eventual membership, there are continuous doubts about whether it has the political appetite to go through with another large round of expansion.

Apart from Croatia, strongly supported by Germany and where EU membership is virtually assured, internal EU question marks remain over the rest.

"It's important we don't scapegoat enlargement" for some "ills" that were not caused by enlargement, Mr Rehn said, adding that the current economic crisis was not made in the streets of Belgrade but rather on Wall Street.

http://euobserver.com/9/28827

Macedónia ou Antiga República Jugoslava da Macedónia? As razões geopolíticas do conflito

Quando a República Socialista da Macedónia abandonou a Jugoslávia federal em 1991, a generalidade dos europeus e ocidentais ficou surpreendida pela tenacidade da oposição da Grécia ao reconhecimento do novo Estado como «República da Macedónia». Aquilo que visto sob o olhar ocidental deveria ser uma querela menor, de contornos quase académicos, na Grécia atingiu proporções enormes, ao ponto de ter dado origem às maiores manifestações de massas, após a reintrodução da democracia em 1974. Mas porquê este «histerismo nacionalista» dos gregos em torno de um nome? As razões, mais uma vez, são profundas e algo estranhas para quem esta fora do espaço geopolítico dos Balcãs. Vale a pena lembrar que os desentendimentos na partilha da Macedónia, conquistada por sérvios, gregos e búlgaros aos otomanos na primeira guerra balcânica (1912-1913), foram o principal motivo da segunda guerra balcânica (1913), desencadeada alguns meses depois do fim da primeira, e onde a Bulgária se viu isolada e derrotada nas suas ambições sobre a Macedónia (todavia, os atritos estiveram longe de se restringir a gregos e a búlgaros, existindo outras pretensões, como a dos eslavos ortodoxos da região, de criarem já na altura uma Macedónia independente). Por outro lado, importa ter em conta que, em regiões como os Balcãs, a história não é um mero conhecimento relegada para o foro da academia, como é normalmente o caso da Europa Ocidental, mas também uma poderosa arma política que sustenta discursos de teor nacionalista e ambições irredentistas. Assim sendo, a utilização da palavra «Macedónia» foi vista, com ou sem razão, não só como uma tentativa de usurpação de um legado cultural helénico, como, pior do que isso, um primeiro passo para prováveis reivindicações territoriais sobre a Macedónia grega. O facto do novo Estado independente ter adoptado como símbolo nacional, na sua bandeira, o chamado «sol de Vergina», ainda agravou mais esta percepção da parte da Grécia. Este tem um poder simbólico grande: trata-se de um desenho encontrado em 1977 naquele que se julga ser o túmulo de Filipe II da Macedónia – o pai do mítico Alexandre Magno – na cidade de Vergina, na Macedónia grega. Sobre a perspectiva do governo do novo Estado sobre este litígio - que levou recentemente ao bloqueio da sua adesão à NATO pela Grécia, na cimeira de Bucareste -, ver o texto da autoria da embaixada macedónia em Ancara, A Macedónia não tem nenhum ‘problema de nome‘ publicado pelo Turkish Daily News. Ver também, no mesmo jornal, o artigo de Ariana Ferentinou, Manter a Macedónia fora da NATO. (A Turquia, o Estado que sucedeu ao Império Otomano em 1923, reconhece este Estado saído da ex-Jugoslávia em 1992, sob o nome oficial de República da Macedónia).
JPTF 2008/04/07