23 / 10 / 2009
SKOPJE, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) — The European Commission is likely to condition Macedonia’s membership in the European Union on the resolution of its longstanding “name” row with neighboring Greece, local media reported Thursday.
The EC annual progress report on Macedonia was set for release Oct. 14. Skopje hopes to see in it a recommendation and a [...]
Date of EU membership talks for FYR uncertain
SKOPJE, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) — The European Commission is likely to condition Macedonia’s membership in the European Union on the resolution of its longstanding “name” row with neighboring Greece, local media reported Thursday.
The EC annual progress report on Macedonia was set for release Oct. 14. Skopje hopes to see in it a recommendation and a date for launching its next step toward EU membership, the start of accession talks with the bloc.
“It is becoming ever more certain that Brussels will stand on Greece’s side”, the local Vreme daily said, citing unnamed Brussels diplomats.
Local A1 TV also cited unnamed Brussels diplomats as saying that Greek diplomats are “intensively lobbying” for an outcome that would be negative for Macedonia.
Last year Athens blocked Skopje’s NATO entry, arguing that the country should first change its formal name, Republic of Macedonia. Athens insists that the name implies Skopje’s territorial claims toward its own northern province that is also called Macedonia.
Local observers fear that the long-term NATO and EU member Greece could once again use its influence and prevent the granting of a date for Macedonia in this year’s EC report.
Ongoing U.N. sponsored Athens-Skopje talks on the issue have so far been fruitless.
“Macedonia expects this year’s European Commission report to be fair and to recognize the country’s recent reform successes”, said Deputy Prime Minister Vasko Naumovski, who is in charge of European affairs in the Macedonian government.
He urged the EC to overlook the spat with Greece as a bilateral issue that has nothing to do with the EU accession process. He said Macedonia’s recently completed reforms in the judiciary, police and public administration should be seen as the only benchmarks by the EC.
Since its independence in early 1990s, Macedonia has set EU and NATO membership as its strategic goals. Since Macedonia was granted the status of EU candidate country in 2005, the EC has failed to deliver a desired date citing “insufficient reforms” in its previous reports.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12196329.htm
HellenesOnline | 23 / 10 / 2009 | EUROPEAN UNION | Tags: "VARDARSKA" YES, "MACEDONIA" NO!, EU Accession, FYROM, Vardarska |
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