FEATURE - Macedonia’s Failure To Get Date for EU Membership Talks Surprises Nobody, Name Dispute with Greece Weighs

The European Commission said in its 2008 progress report on Macedonia that despite good progress achieved in judicial and police reforms and in consolidating its multi-ethnic democracy, in the early general polls held in June the country has failed to meet international standards for free and democratic elections, which are fundamental to start accession negotiations. In the report the EU executive also praised Macedonia's economic achievements, saying the country has moved closer towards becoming a functioning market economy.

“The European Commission's report is realistic and generally contains everything that happened in Macedonia in the last 12 months, as well as recommendations to overcome weaknesses”, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said after receiving the report.

However, he added that particularly discouraging for Macedonia were the statements of ”one EU member state that we cannot receive a date for starting negotiations, if agreement for Macedonia’s name is not achieved”.

Greece, a member of the EU and NATO, vetoed an invitation for Macedonia to join NATO at the alliance's summit in Bucharest in April, saying Macedonia's name implies a territorial claim of the former Yugoslav republic to Greece's northernmost province of the same name. Macedonia, which proclaimed its independence from the former Yugoslav federation in 1991, says its name is a matter of the country's national and cultural identity.

No progress has been made so far in talks between Skopje and Athens for resolving the dispute. Greece has also threatened to block Macedonia’s EU accession, if the name dispute is not resolved.

Bosko Karadzov, assistant professor of political sciences at the Skopje-based European University, told SeeNews that as far as political criteria for starting EU negotiations are concerned, Macedonia has been asked to fulfil an extraordinary set of obligations, unlike other countries in the region that have entered or hope to enter the EU.

According to Karadzov, in the case of Macedonia the EU uses accession requirements, including holding political dialogue and fair and democratic elections, to exert pressure on Skopje in the name dispute with Athens.

“Flexibility in the name dispute with Greece could have been compensated with a date for negotiations”, Karadzov said.

The southeast European country of two million people was granted EU candidate status in December 2005.

Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, Bulgaria and Romania followed it in 2007, Croatia started EU membership negotiations in 2005, Serbia hopes to get EU candidate status next year, and Bosnia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the bloc, the first formal step towards accession, in June 2008.

“The state, the political leadership are standing before a historical crossroads," Karadzov said, adding he was not optimistic about fast resolving of the name dispute or the start of accession talks with EU.

For Dane Taleski, an independent political analyst, Macedonia's failure to get a date for starting membership talks with the EU was not a surprise, considering the incidents that took place during the snap parliamentary elections held in June.

“I warned before the elections, and I was sure after the electoral incidents that Macedonia will obtain an extremely negative EU report”, Taleski said, referring to shootings during the vote, in which one man was killed and several others were wounded.

During the elections, incidents occurred in regions populated mostly by ethnic Albanians, which make nearly a quarter of Macedonia’s population of two million. Election was won with a large margin by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party headed by Gruevski.

Because of those incidents, the European Commission said in its progress report that Macedonia has failed to meet international standards for holding free and democratic elections, but the country has another chance to prove its democratic capacity in the local and presidential votes it will hold next March.

“Greece can not stand in the way of the process of implementing European Union criteria, it depends on the government”, Taleski added.

According to him, Macedonia doesn’t work too hard to meet all the requirements set out by the EU as conditions for starting accession talks. As an example he mentioned the fact that the country has failed to use 70-80 million euro ($89.4-102.2 million) per year under the bloc's pre-accession assistance programme IPA. The funding was approved by the European Commission in 2007 and is available on condition Macedonia develops its administrative capacity for fund managing.

A brightening of Macedonia's EU membership prospects will certainly boost the morale of its citizens but they expect no fast improvement of their standard of living.

“Obtaining a date for EU membership negotiations [...] probably will not bring better life immediately but it could be a very positive event. Greece’s threat concerning the name dispute is a serious issue and it may delay the country’s progress for a while," a Skopje-based bank official who declined to be identified, told SeeNews.

For Eli Georgievska, a 36-year old mother of three, the sole immediate benefit for Macedonians from the launch of accession talks with the EU would be the opening of the borders.

“I support Macedonia's bid to join the European Union but I do not expect to live better. It is enough that my children will live in a future EU member state”, she added.

Macedonia expects to win a visa-free travel with the EU next year, but Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn presenting the progress report in Brussels said that only the most advanced EU candidates in the region could achieve this objective.

Macedonian citizens, especially the young ones, feel frustrated because tough visa requirements imposed by the EU prevent them from travelling much.

($=0.7826 euro)