Rising tension between North Macedonia and the European Union

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, newspaper ” Tagus Saitong wrote in an article: At 12 o’clock on Sunday, Gordana Siljanovska-Daukova, the decisive winner of the latest presidential election of North Macedonia, took the oath in the parliament of this country in the capital of Skopje.

But he swore on the old state name of Macedonia and not North Macedonia, although he had to say the new state name of North Macedonia in several places of the text. He, who is a 70-year-old constitutional lawyer from the University of Skopje, always deliberately removed the name of North from Macedonia in his statements, and therefore this issue has caused controversy.

Sofia Filipido, the ambassador of Greece in Skopje, protested against this action of the president of this country and left the hall of the parliament of North Macedonia, where some representatives of the countries had gathered for the inauguration ceremony of the president. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted sharply to this issue. In a statement from Athens, it is stated: This action is a flagrant violation of the Prespa Agreement and the constitution of the neighboring country. Greece firmly declares that further progress in bilateral relations with North Macedonia, as well as its European path, depends on the full implementation of the Prespa Agreement and especially the use of the country’s legal name.

At the beginning of 2019, the bilateral PERSPA agreement resolved the decades-long name dispute between Athens and Skopje, and the old name of Macedonia was changed to North Macedonia. In March 2020, North Macedonia joined NATO after Athens overturned its veto. This small southeastern European country with about two million people has been an official candidate for EU membership since 2005.

Early on Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that followed up on the issue and announced in response to this issue: The provocative decision of the new president of North Macedonia to violate the official text of his oath and call his country by another name is an illegal and unacceptable initiative.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, also condemned the use of the country’s old state name by the new president on Platform X.

“Silianovska-Davkova” has never hidden her opinion about the new state name of North Macedonia. He said about this: The right to self-determination is a personal right. He said just a few days before the second round of presidential elections in this country: No one has the right to order someone to use something that his mind and heart do not accept.

At the same time, he clarified: When I say that I do not use the word North, I do not mean to remove it from the signs in front of the institutions’ buildings, from the signs of international conferences or bilateral meetings. I am speaking for myself here. I respect the word ‘North’ but I don’t use it.” It is a sensitive issue. He won a decisive victory in the parliamentary elections held on Wednesday. The social democrats who previously ruled Skopje and had brought the Prespa agreement to order were punished by the voters. p style=”text-align:justify”. The accession of North Macedonia to the European Union is also a strategic goal for the national conservatives. This country insists on the unconditional implementation of the provisions of the Constitution and all international obligations entered into. This includes full compliance with the Prespa Agreement.

Greece in Reacting to this stance, the new Macedonian president has threatened to block North Macedonia’s plans to join the European Union in order to use the country’s old name. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was “illegal and unacceptable” to ignore the official text during the swearing-in of North Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova. This violates a bilateral agreement from 2018.

The name dispute between the two countries began in the 1990s when Macedonia became independent following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Greece has since requested a name change because a region to the north of Greece is also called Macedonia. This dispute was resolved in 2018 by changing the name to North Macedonia, which was set in the agreement known as Perspa. This change was a prerequisite for this Balkan country to join NATO in 2020. At that time, Greece also gave up its resistance to join the European Union.

Bulgaria also criticized the approach of the new president of North Macedonia. Bulgarian President Roman Radov warned that the framework for negotiations with North Macedonia, approved by the EU Council in 2022, must be respected by the leadership in Skopje. Interim Prime Minister of Bulgaria Dimitar Glauchov also said that the European prospects of the Republic of North Macedonia depend entirely on the “comprehensive implementation” of all agreements.

North Macedonia has been a candidate since 2005. has been a member of the European Union. The name dispute with Greece prevented this process from continuing for years. Official negotiations for the country’s accession to the European Union did not begin until 2022. But even after the deal with Greece, there was another deadlock, this time over Bulgaria, its eastern neighbor. In 2020, Bulgaria vetoed North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union: Sofia’s government wants the Bulgarian minority status to be included in North Macedonia’s constitution.

Because Long waiting periods and numerous concessions, many residents of North Macedonia feel abandoned by the EU. According to a study, the majority cannot get used to the name of the new country. According to experts, this is one of the reasons for the victory of the extreme nationalist party in the recent elections. However, with the victory of Silianovska-Davkova, North Macedonia’s relations with Greece, as well as with Bulgaria, whose approval is crucial for joining the European Union, could deteriorate significantly.

The right-wing opposition party in North Macedonia managed to steal the lead from the ruling Social Democratic Party in the recent elections in this country, and the presidential candidate of this party took the helm of this position as the first female president.