Region.

Greek Prime Minister, Costas Karamanlis took the offensive last week over bilateral disputes with Skopje and Ankara, suggesting that Greece could block their accession bids to the EU if these are not resolved.

Karamanlis told parliamentarians on November 2nd that Turkey must take steps to avoid an impending "train crash" in its accession negotiations. The prime minister also said that the government could veto Macedonia's EU and NATO membership if bilateral disputes between the two countries go unresolved.

"(Macedonia's) leaders should rise to the occasion and reciprocate the positive stance of the Greek government," said Karamanlis. "A commonly accepted appellation is needed on the road to NATO and the EU. It is a precondition for ratification by the Greek parliament."

Applauding the two countries' "otherwise good bilateral ties", the prime minister called for a full normalisation of relations "to ease the country's path towards the institutions of the West, and to strengthen regional stability".

According to Spyros Economides of the LSE's Hellenic Observatory, a Greek veto is in fact "highly unlikely", though the possibility of a mutually-acceptable solution looks equally distant.
"You have to look at the internal politics in Skopje," Economides said. "The attitude is 'Why should we negotiate now, when everyone is calling us Macedonia?'"

Greece is the biggest investor in Macedonia over the past ten years, pouring some $1.1 billion into our state. It's not the first time they threaten with a veto. They will consider not doing it after all, back in 2004 he was the one who lobbied for Turkey to join the EU.

Posted by Macedonia Daily on Monday, November 13, 2006 at 9:58 am | Permalink