The rhetoric of the European Union in terms of resolving the name dispute with Greece has been intensified in each subsequent report. Each report mentions that Macedonia should maintain good neighborly relations and take decisive steps to find a mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute, and the term “without delay” is increasingly used in that context.
The conclusions of the foreign ministers of the EU, which should be adopt in the next few days in Brussels, it is said that Macedonia must find a “final solution to the name dispute without delay.”
“Maintaining good neighborly relations, including negotiations and mutually acceptable solution to the name dispute, under the auspices of the United Nations, remains necessary. Lengthy negotiations on the name dispute should bring the final decision without delay. It is imperative for a decisive action to be taken,” it is said in the conclusions.
The 2014-2015 enlargement strategy reads that “It remains essential to take decisive steps to resolve the “name dispute” with Greece. The failure of the parties in this dispute to reach a compromise after 19 years of negotiations mediated by the UN, has a direct negative impact on the country’s European aspirations. Decisive action is required, as well as proactive support by EU leaders.”
However, the Macedonian version of the enlargement strategy doesn’t contain the part that “good neighborly relations are essential for Macedonia, including negotiations to find a mutually acceptable solution under the auspices of the United Nations, which has to be found without further delay,” which can be found in the English version of the document.
There is also a similar rhetoric in the 2013-2014 expansion report, which states that:
“Since 2009, the Commission recommends that the second stage of association under the Stabilization and Association Agreement should begin. In both cases, decision by the Council hadn’t been reached. Twenty years after the country’s admission in the United Nations, a solution to the name dispute should be found without further delay.”
The newly appointed Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy, Johannes Hahn, announced that he would personally take care about the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia.
