36972 - Strategic analysis of the issue of Skopje

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Vicky Baklessi

If Skopje is a candidate with the name FYROM both for the European Union and for NATO and get accepted, then subsequently they will have the right to have the name they want and the show is over. If Greece accepts from the beginning a name which contains the name Macedonia, things will be even easier for Skopje and we will not be able to make an intervention. And it is exactly this that they were preparing to do, if there hadn’t been a people’s resistance of this magnitude. So we see that Greece must make use and exploit the European acquis and the right of veto before the opening of the chapters. And in this phase she must reassure the absence of the change in the naming thereon, since it will be within the framework of the European acquis and they will not be able to have a change in a unilateral manner. So the most important way to escape from the traps of the past, is bring into a realization that we have a predominant strategy and we are not forced to follow intermediate solutions, because we see that after so many years of Skopje’s candidacy, it has opened non of the 35 chapters which are are a prerequisite for the accession course to the European Union, which means that things after all are not as easy as they are presented in the governmental circles. With this new dynamic and with the realization on Skopje side that there are analogies also with the issue of the flag which we overcame, it is feasible to claim in an effective manner our rights, because they are fundamental due to history and accessible due to strategy, for this reason the strategic analysis of the issue of Skopje is necessary.