From Bucharest to Prespa: Macedonian naming dispute in 2008–2018

Abstract

The article is devoted to the second stage of the Macedonian naming dispute. I continue my research on the actual memory war between Athens and Skopje. The article focuses on the period from the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest to the signing of the Prespan Agreement in 2018. I research the key points, the main factors of the conflict, especially the role of the international mediators and the internal political situation in two countries. I propose a new version of the periodization of the Macedonian naming dispute. I paid special attention to the process of the “antiquization” in Macedonia during the period when VMRO-DPMNE was in power and to the canceling of it after the transit of power to the SDSM. Conclusions are drawn about the future for reconciliation in view of the difficult foreign policy situation in the region and in both countries. Considering that in Greece the compromise with Skopje became one of the reasons for the transition to the opposition to SYRIZA, and in North Macedonia of the apparent weakening of the position of the ruling party, the negative potential of the Greco-Macedonian dispute over the state name has not been fully exhausted.