Macedonia’s PM reacts to European Parliament report, sends letter to US president Bush

12:37 Fri 25 Apr 2008 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer

Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski, reacting to the April 23 adoption by the European Parliament of a report calling on Greece and Macedonia to resolve their dispute over Macedonia’s name, has said that the request was “not a surprise”.

On April 24, Macedonian media reported Gruevski as saying that the resolution was no surprise considering that the name dispute “remains our only problem” barring Macedonia from being invited to join Nato and the European Union.

At the April 2008 Nato summit in Bucharest, Greek won support from other countries to bar Macedonia from getting a membership invitation. Athens blocked Macedonia because of the name dispute. Greece holds that it cannot accept the use of the name “Macedonia” by its neighbouring country because this would reinforce purported territorial claims by Skopje in northern Greece.

Gruevski told Macedonian media on April 24 that his government would continue efforts to resolve the name dispute “without crossing the red line”.

A day earlier, the Macedonian prime minister’s office issued a copy of a letter written by Gruevski to US president George Bush expressing Macedonia’s gratitude for the support given to it by Bush and the US. At the Bucharest summit, Bush called for Macedonia’s admission to Nato.

In the letter, Gruevski told Bush: “For us, your country has always been and will be the most important, strategic partner”.

“Under your leadership, the US has substantially contributed to our efforts for strengthening the Macedonian multiethnic democracy and market economy. The results of our dedication and strong commitment have been reflected in the fact that the Republic of Macedonia met all necessary criteria for Nato membership.

“It has been also confirmed by our long-term partnership with the Alliance, most notably by the ability to overtake our part of the obligations and participate in important missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Bosnia/Herzegovina.”

In a sideswipe at Greece, Gruevski wrote: “Unfortunately, due to the unprincipled and irresponsible behaviour of one Nato member, this reality has not been verified at the Summit in Bucharest, which is not in favour of the Republic of Macedonia, the region, and first and foremost of Nato”.