On September 20, Canada officially recognised Macedonia under its constitutional name – Macedonia. The honorary Canadian consul to Macedonia, Zivko Gruevski, confirmed the news to Macedonian TV Channel 5, as did the country’s foreign ministry.

It is worth noting Canada decided on the move despite the fact that Greeks make up the second largest immigrant population in Canada.

The news prompted immediate reaction from the Greek Foreign Ministry. Ministry spokesperson Jorgos Kumutsakos said, as quoted by Greek media, Canada’s decision gives no satisfaction to Greece. “Among others, the decision disappointed hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizens of Greek origin,” he said.

Canada has followed in the footsteps of a number of countries, including China and Russia by recognising the constitutional name. However, it is a step further than its southern neighbour, the US, went a couple of years ago. Then, the US offered to put a stop to the long-running diplomatic row between Greece and the former Yugoslav state by proposing the name the Republic of Macedonia-Skopje.

Despite that both Greece and Macedonia turned the offer down, the proposal prompted the US to repeatedly refer to the former Yugoslav state as the Republic of Macedonia. Also, Nato has for months been putting the meaning of the abbreviation FYROM in brackets – (Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia). Since July 2007, the European Union has been following Nato’s example.

Greece has been at the centre of the name dispute arguing the Macedonia name belongs to a Greek province of that name. The row started in 1991 after the break-up of Yugoslavia. The EU has since been steadfast in siding with Greece.

As a result, the EU, the United Nations and Nato, alongside other international institutions, have been calling the Balkan nation the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Greece has threatened it would obstruct Macedonia’s EU and Nato bids if it failed to comply with using the name FYROM.

The news that Canada has recognised Macedonia’s constitutional name comes less than two months before the European Commission is due to release its annual report on Macedonia. While expectations are that, unlike the year before, the report will not be negative, it is likely that it will reiterate that the country is failing to deliver on its May 2007 promise for political dialogue and reforms.

The political situation has been exacerbated over the months-long row between president Branko Crvenkovski and prime minister Nikola Gruevski.

This combination of setbacks is likely to deter the EC from entering a starting date for accession negotiations in its annual report. This was reported by Macedonian daily Dnevnik with a reference to an European diplomat.

Macedonia earned candidate member status in December 2005; however, it is yet to receive a date for the start of accession negotiations.