NATO

Published by The Wall Street Journal, November 5, 2004

Greece May Block Macedonia NATO,EU Bids Over Name

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

(ATHENS (AP)--The Greek government said Friday that it would block neighboring Macedonia from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the European Union unless a name dispute with the Balkan republic is resolved first.

The warning came a day after the U.S. fully recognized Macedonia under that name, despite strong Greek objections, ahead of a referendum Sunday aimed at granting Macedonia's restive ethnic Albanian minority greater autonomy.

Athens has argued that use of the name Macedonia implies territorial claims toward Greece and made a formal complaint to Washington Thursday.

Macedonia, which gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, joined the U.N. in 1993 under the name "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" to sidestep Greek objections. Athens uses the U.N. acronym FYROM, as do international organizations.

"It is well known that the accession of a European country to the E.U. or NATO requires the unanimous agreement of all existing members," government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros said.

"Greece will not be part of such a decision unless a commonly acceptable solution (to the name dispute) is reached," he added. "It is not our intention to punish anyone ... What we are seeking is a calm and sober atmosphere."

U.S. recognition of Macedonia's name left Greece's conservative government to deal with its first diplomatic defeat since taking power in March. It also marked a new surge of anti-Americanism in a country where such sentiment often runs high.

"(Bush), the gun-toting boss of the planet has provocatively ignored the United Nations ... it is clear this cowboy has got his job done," the liberal Athens daily Eleftherotypia, one of the country's most popular, wrote in an editorial.

The head of Greece's powerful Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, urged Greeks to "resist" Washington's decision in a statement seen as a possible prelude to mass street protests.

"They are trying to make us forget our history. We must resist this with revolutionary might," the archbishop told a group of school children in northern Greece.

Macedonia is keen to join the E.U. and international institutions like NATO to boost stability in the landlocked tiny republic, which in the past has been riven by tension with its ethnic Albanian minority.

U.S. support for its NATO ambitions has increased since Macedonia sent a small number troop to join U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Volume 6 Number 45 - Tuesday, November 9th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY