Prespa Agreement Research Articles

NORTH MACEDONIA TOWARD THE EUROPEAN UNION THROUGH GOOD NEIGHBORLINESS

After declaring independence in January 1991, North Macedonia decided that its future would be in the family of democratic peoples of Europe. North Macedonia has clearly expressed its priority for membership in the European Union as one of its strategic and vital interests. With the realization of this determination, the Republic of North Macedonia was legitimized as a reliable partner and ally of the European Union, but it still went through a series of different stages in the development of relations, rapprochement, and integration in the EU. We all know that reforms are required within the states that seek and want to be members of the European Union. There are several important steps through which the state of North Macedonia, a candidate country, has shown its goodwill in the long path of integration and contribution. The key points and changes necessary to achieve the goal of being part of the European Union that have been realized so far are the following: the Prespa Agreement between North Macedonia and Greece, the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness, and the Union of Cooperation, between Macedonia North and Bulgaria. This paper analyzes North Macedonia's approach to the European Union, the transition, its difficulties and challenges on this path, and the Constitution's changes. In the end, conclusions and suggestions are given to make North Macedonia's path towards the European Union a little easier.

Macedonia and Identity Politics after the Prespa Agreement ed. by Vasiliki P. Neofotistos (review)

Macedonia and Identity Politics after the Prespa Agreement ed. by Vasiliki P. Neofotistos (review)

Using World Cafés to engage an Australian culturally and linguistically diverse community around human papillomavirus vaccination.

Internationally, cultural factors are associated with vaccine uptake and completion in ethnic minority communities. Whilst Australia has achieved high human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, little is known about how culture or ethnicity influences HPV vaccination engagement. To address these gaps, we partnered with our Local Health District to explore how one culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community engages with school and HPV vaccination. We adapted a participatory research method (the World Café) to engage one local CALD community-the Macedonian community (Our bi-cultural researcher and participants preferred the term 'Macedonia' rather than The Republic of North Macedonia as outlined in the 2018 Prespa agreement) in New South Wales (Australia)-to discuss HPV and school vaccination. Our qualitative analysis combined deductive codes taken from the Tailoring Immunization Programme framework, inductive codes guided by narrative inquiry (temporality, socialityand place)and previously known vaccination 'trust' frameworks. In late 2019, 31local Macedonian community members were purposely recruited for two World Cafés (n = 15 mothers/grandmothers and n = 16 young adults). Our themes reveal a community narrative grounded in historical vaccine experiences, family views on vaccinationand a general trust in schools. Participants collectively discussed how 'increasing knowledge' and 'tailoring health communications' could strengthen community vaccine decision-making. This study demonstrates how research partnerships and participatory methods can be applied in CALD community settings to research engagement with school and HPV vaccination. Our World Café dialogues highlight a positive narrative about vaccines, where community vaccination behaviours were built on multilayer trust relationships despite low vaccine knowledge. Our findings further knowledge around 'public trust' in school vaccination, highlighting the importance of existing (or missing) trust relationships when tailoring vaccine communication to local CALD communities. Participants who took part in the World Cafes were all local Macedonian community parents or young adults who have been or will be exposed to the health services offered by school-based HPV vaccination. Thus, all the data collected came from their personal experiences with the school vaccination programme, or how they expect to participate in the programme. To ensure our study design was culturally appropriate and tailored to the Macedonian community, we engaged with the relevant local health stakeholders (the bi-cultural Multicultural Health Officer and Multicultural Health Service Manager Programme Director) to adapt and refine the World Café method for this context and setting. Our local health stakeholders also reviewed our preliminary findings, assisted with data interpretation and participated in manuscript editing.

Symbolic Conflict Resolution and Ingroup Favoritism

What are the domestic consequences of symbolic conflict resolution? We isolate the effect of symbolic conflict by looking into a dispute with no material stakes (for one side), but high symbolic ones: the Prespa Agreement, which ended the dispute on the name of FYROM, thenceforth named North Macedonia. Greeks opposed this name because the ancient Macedonian heritage is central to their national identity. Based on social identity theory, we expect this threat to the group’s distinctiveness to increase nationalist sentiment. Using an original dataset of flags displayed in the façade of buildings in Athens and Thessaloniki, which we compare to Lisbon, we find an increase in national flags in the Greek cities after the Agreement. The effect is stronger in Thessaloniki, Greek Macedonia’s capital, where the identity threat was more pronounced. We also find that the treaty shifted voters to the right, especially those residing in the region of Macedonia.

The EU and Dispute Settlement: The Case of the Macedonian Name Issue

The Prespa Agreement concluded between (North) Macedonia and Greece in June 2018 is hailed as a major success for the European Union’s (EU) policy of promoting conflict resolution through in the Balkans and beyond. At the same time, in the case of the so-called Macedonian name dispute, the EU hindered compromise as membership in the bloc provided Athens with asymmetric leverage over Skopje. The article argues that the European institutions made a positive contribution by empowering opposition to state capture in Macedonia, helping resolve a domestic political crisis between 2015 and 2017, and facilitating the transfer of power to a government willing to compromise with Greece. Even if the Prespa Agreement resulted from a bargain between Athens and Skopje, intervention in Macedonian politics by the EU, the United States, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) played a critical role in passing the constitutional changes agreed in the deal. The article examines the name dispute from the perspective of the literature on the EU as an agent of conflict transformation, arguing that European integration’s “enabling impact” is key to understanding and explaining the genesis of the Prespa Agreement. It also contends that the EU faced a dilemma between the pursuit of stability and the promotion of the rule of law and accountability, often prioritising the former over the latter.

Pettifer J., Vickers M. Lakes and Empires in Macedonian History: Contesting the Waters. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. 240 p. ISBN 978-1-3502-2614-2

This review is devoted to the book “Lakes and Empires in Macedonian History: Contesting the Waters” by James Pettifer and Miranda Vickers. Two British authors who are world famous specialists in Balkan history (Oxford University Professor J. Pettifer and M. Vickers, now a “free agent”) present to the public the history of the Prespa Lake region, which gained some fame after the signing of the Prespa agreement. This agreement ended the Macedonian name dispute, which dated back to 1991. The authors, who have an impressive scholarly background, show the results of more than 30 years of study of the region. The review provides an overview of the book, the translation of which into Russian is not only the desire of the monograph’s authors, but also our recommendation. The book makes a successful attempt to trace the complex history of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious microcosm around the lake owned by three countries: Albania, Greece, and North Macedonia. Primary attention is paid to the history of the inhabitants of the village of Psarades / Nivitsi in Greek Macedonia. This small settlement on the shores of the Prespa, with a long history of political upheavals, now, like the entire region, also faces environmental diffi culties – the problem of the lake’s shallowing clearly demonstrates new challenges for the inhabitants of this Balkan microcosm, which traditionally has been oriented towards fi shing. The authors use a wide variety of scientifi c methods for the description, analysis, and study of the Prespa region. Specifi c attention in this review is paid to the methods of studying ecological history.

Russian Recognition of Macedonia’s New Name

The senseless name dispute and the renaming of the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, which was perceived by the Western countries as a «technical obstacle» to the country's NATO and EU accession, was in fact a part of the Macedonian southern neighbor’s long-term plan to erase the Macedonian identity by violating the Macedonian people's right to national self-determination. Since, any change in the name of a country automatically entailed consequences for the national and cultural identity of the Macedonians - the titular people of the country. Russian diplomacy closely followed the events in the country and thoroughly knew the essence of the political crisis that began in 2015 which eventually ended with the renaming of the country against the will of the Macedonian people. The Russian decision to retreat from the intention to challenge the Prespa agreement in the UN Security Council as contradictory to the international law and violating Macedonian 1991 Constitution questioned the role of the Russian diplomacy in upholding the principles and norms of the rule of international law in the world. The subsequent recognition of Macedonia’s new name by Russia forced many in the Republic of Macedonia to include Russia, an indisputable fighter for justice in a multipolar world, in the list of countries involved in the national “depersonalization” of Macedonia, which appeared on the political map of Europe as a result of the anti-fascist liberation movement of the Macedonian people.

European Integration as New National Mythology: On The Resolution of the Macedonian Name Dispute

The paper examines the effect that the resolution of the naming dispute between North Macedonia and Greece has on the re-definition of the Macedonian nation. It discusses the narratives of supporters and opponents to the Prespa Agreement and poses the question of whether the European integration (under which auspices the name change occurred) has indeed served as new national mythology for Macedonians.

US INFLUENCE IN THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA AFTER THE PERIOD OF RENAMING

The complex set of historical and political processes between the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as the absence of the EU from the region, complicates the process of building democratic and political capacities in these countries. The United States has a complex political approach to the Western Balkans, without having an exclusive ally in this part of the region. Although the region does not seem to be at the top of US policy priorities at the moment, the Western Balkans play an important role in its interests, especially when it comes to security issues, which have always been a top priority for the US administration. The public in the Republic of North Macedonia is still emotional about the process of changing the constitutional name, and the Prespa Agreement, although a closed topic for the US administration, at least judging by the last move of President Biden, is still not fully accepted, not only by the population, but also among some experts. Some critics comment on the distrust of the process "vis a vis" the constant blockades of the pre-accession negotiations with the EU, despite the name change, which by the way according to the amendments to the Constitution should be implemented in practice in parallel with the opening of EU negotiation chapters. This begs the questions: What is the US position on North Macedonia's strategic interests? Does and in what way does the United States influence North Macedonia through NATO? What are the benefits and prospects for North Macedonia from NATO membership? The purpose of this paper is to explain the US attitude towards North Macedonia from a geostrategic point of view by applying descriptive analysis. In 2008, after the Greek veto on Macedonia's membership in NATO, a Declaration on Strategic Partnership and Cooperation was signed between the United States and Macedonia, with which the United States guarantees the security of Macedonia, but without meaning a replacement for NATO membership. The Declaration is one of the most important agreements for North Macedonia, which emphasizes, among other things, the strategic commitment of both sides to Macedonia's integration into NATO and the EU, making the United States the only strategic partner and supporter (of the great powers) of Macedonia in its EU and NATO aspirations.Finally, in 2020, through the North Macedonian Embassy in Washington, the instrument for joining the North Atlantic Treaty was deposited, with which North Macedonia officially became a member of NATO.

The Republic of North Macedonia - A 'new' country in the Western Balkans

Abstract The article tries to explain and define political processes and changes trhough history of the 'new' Western Balkans country - the Republic of North Macedonia. It is word about analysis of the political dispute between Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece, from its biginnings until the present day. This paper will try to give the real picture of political area in the Balkans and explore deeper roots of the 'Macedonian Question' controversy. Also, it will give the explinations of the resolution of 27-year dispute, (between the two neighbor countries), by signing the Prespa Agreement. Hence, leaving by side national identity and history, the North Macedonia will be able to join the European Union and NATO. Thus, in short period of time, a 'new' country in the Western Balkans has putted in the center of the regional politics, with clear purpose: promoting ethnic and cultural heritance in the edge of the European continent.

Ambiguous identities in crisis-ridden Greece: ‘us’ and/against ‘Europe’

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present findings of a research project focusing on the tensions between the idea of ‘Europe’ and that of the ‘nation’ as well as on perceptions of national and popular sovereignty in times of crisis. We start from the assumption that in the context of the recent crisis, EU politics have become ‘normal politics,’ generating political passions, polarization, and a deeper Eurosceptic mood. Working on the emblematic case of Greece, we focus on two critical moments (referendum 2015 and Prespa Agreement 2018) so as to address the question of how the idea of ‘Europe’ was politicized and reconceptualized in its competitive symbiosis with perception(s) of the ‘nation’. Drawing on discourse analysis and ethnographic research, we maintain that European identity, in this critical juncture, was not deconstructed but rather remodelled in constant tension with national identity.

“Why Did It Take So Long?” Exploring Greek Public Opinion as an Obstacle to the Settlement of the Macedonia Name Dispute

AbstractThe Macedonia name dispute was resolved in 2018 with the signing of the Prespa Agreement. Ambassador Nimetz – one of the key players in the solution efforts – queried recently “Why did it take us so long?”, echoing the confusion of foreign observers about what has routinely been seen as an incomprehensible spat. This article provides more context about the past intractability of the dispute by focusing on the role of Greek public opinion. Taking stock of the literature on the relationship between foreign policy-making and public opinion, our analysis identifies key parameters for investigating the influence of Greek public opinion on policy. We test these parameters against empirical data from a comprehensive poll on the name dispute that was conducted in 2016, only a few months before the start of the negotiations that led to the Prespa Agreement. Our analysis demonstrates the extent and depth of the Greek public’s opposition to any compromise, as well as the emotional involvement in the Macedonia name dispute. The findings have implications for our understanding of the process that led to the settlement of the dispute as well as the challenges of implementing the agreement.

Between collective and particularistic interests. Ratification of the Prespa Agreement by national parliaments in Greece and North Macedonia

ABSTRACT This article examines Greece and North Macedonia’s parliamentary ratifications of the Prespa Agreement. Given the decisive role of national parliaments in the process of the agreement’s success, the article investigates to what extent this specific institutional setting influenced the dispute concerning the bilateral agreement. The article poses the following question: which factors explain support and opposition towards the agreement within the two national parliaments? We found that two conflicting models of parliamentary representation characterized the type of support for or opposition to the agreement: the trustee and the representative models. Drawing on an analysis of the vote outcomes and a qualitative discourse analysis of the plenary debates, the article demonstrates that whereas the governing parties in both states adhered to the trustee model – prioritizing their international responsibility and the state’s collective interests – opposition parties acted as representatives of specific sub-groups of voters and their particularistic interests or identities.

From the name dispute to the Prespa agreement: the relations between Greece and North Macedonia

Introduction: The name dispute dominated the relations between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia approximately three decades. It was coined as one of the world’s chronical unresolved issues. During the long lifespan of the conflict, there were some moments of hope for a solution, as well as disappointments stemming from the rising tension between the parties. Some of these developments bringing a new mentality to the dispute can be labelled as the turning points. In the current state of affairs, the dispute has been going through a new phase since the signature of the Prespa Agreement between Greece and North Macedonia in 2018.Materials and Methods: The article is providing a historical analysis of the name dispute. The development of the name dispute, from its beginning till its current state of affairs, is analysed under the guidance of the previous studies conducted on the subject and with references to the discourses of the leading political actors.Results: The name dispute is elaborated by focusing on the key turning points. After the emergence of the conflict, the interim accord of 1995 and 2008 NATO Bucharest meeting and the Prespa Agreement are determined as the turning points of the dispute.Discussions and Conclusions: The article concludes that it is too early to declare the final end of the name dispute by concentrating on the Prespa Agreement, symbolizing the final consensus between the parties of the dispute. Despite the rising hopes after the Prespa Agreement, the historical lifespan of the name dispute leads us to consider the fact that the willingness of the disputing parties to stay committed to the agreement will be definitive in terms of the future of the relations between Greece and Macedonia.

Macedonian constitutional court and the Prespa agreement: unbearable ease of inactivity

Macedonian constitutional court and the Prespa agreement: unbearable ease of inactivity

The Prespa agreement between Macedonia and Greece and possible further action(s) related to validity of the treaty

The Prespa agreement between Macedonia and Greece and possible further action(s) related to validity of the treaty

The Prespa Agreement as an Example of Prevalence of the Monist Approach in the Relationship Between the National Constitution and International Law

The Prespa Agreement as an Example of Prevalence of the Monist Approach in the Relationship Between the National Constitution and International Law

Macedonia – nowe wyzwania i trudne kompromisy (2016−2019)

Macedonia – New Challenges and Difficult Compromises (2016−2019) After the SDSM (Socijaldemokratski sojuz na Makedonija – Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) took over the government in 2017, the party proposed reforms which, although fundamental for the future of the country, were difficult to accept by the majority of Macedonian society. Nevertheless, SDSM’s policy, approved and monitored by the European Union and the US, was to lead to Macedonia joining NATO and EU structures in the near future. It should also be noted that both the US and the EU are strategic partners of the Republic, which actively support the processes taking place there. Having signed the agreement with Greece, on 17 June 2018 the Republic of Macedonia changed its official name. After the entry into force of the amendments to the Constitution and ratification of the Greek-Macedonian bilateral agreement by both parties, the country adopted the name of the Republic of North Macedonia (mac. Република Серверна Македонија). In February 2019, just after the parliaments of North Macedonia and Greece ratified the Prespa Agreement, the accession process of North Macedonia to NATO began. The condition for accession was the consent of the parliaments of all members of the Alliance for enlargement. Immediately after such approval, on 27 March 2020, the decision on membership was announced in Brussels by its chairman, Jens Stoltenberg. Macedonia’s relations with Bulgaria and Serbia have also changed, and the Albanians have been granted further privileges and rights in this country – in the opinion of the Macedonians it is very difficult to accept and implement. The escalation of nationalist sentiment in the country’s internal relations is important, caused not only by foreign policy but also by concessions to the Albanians. The Law on the Use of Languages, also known as the ‘language law’, criticized not only by the Macedonian scientific elite, but also by the Venice Commission, which sees certain threats to Macedonia in granting such extensive rights to the Albanian population, strengthens the opposition. On 26 March 2020, the EU gave its consent to start accession negotiations with Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia. Negotiations with Bulgaria are ongoing and it will be difficult to find a compromise. The biggest challenge for the government will be to convince the public that it is in the interest of its citizens to make compromises with both Greeks and Albanians and in the future with Bulgarians. In this case, the EU position will be very important, both in relation to the Albanian and Bulgarian demands.

The New Macedonian Question: the Current Stage of Development

The article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of the New Macedonian question. Authors examine two treaties that seemed to settle the New Macedonian question: The 2017 Treaty of Friendship, Good-neighborliness and Cooperation between Macedonia and Bulgaria, and the 2018 Prespa agreement signed by the representatives of Macedonia and Greece. The successful negotiations that resulted in the signing of these international agreements have raised a diffi cult question for researchers, which can be formulated as follows: what is the current stage of development of the New Macedonian Question? Does this problem belong to history or current international relations? The main goal of the work is a detailed analysis of the two above-mentioned treaties in the context of their impact on the New Macedonian question. Authors attempted not only to examine the two treaties separately, but also to place these documents in the broader context of extremely contradictory international relations on the Balkan Peninsula, and to show the mutual infl uence of various aspects of the New Macedonian question as the complex problem of international relations. The article has a scientifi c value since the Prespa agreement and the Treaty of friendship have not yet been properly examined in the scientifi c literature, despite the wide coverage in the media. The article proves the thesis that two treaties did not settle the New Macedonian question and only led to the creation of new problems related to the independent Macedonian state. The serious unilateral concessions made by the Macedonian leadership to resolve the name dispute, the freezing of the historical dispute with Bulgaria, and the continued distrust between the Macedonians and Albanians after the Ohrid agreement do not give grounds to speak of a successful solution of the New Macedonian question.

Procedural unconstitutionality and illegality of Prespa Agreement

The Prespa Agreement signed on June 17, 2018, which changed the constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia, is a precedent on international law. In the procedure of his conclusion, ratification, and execution were committed serious violations of procedural rules. Although the violations that this agreement produces are numerous, and with different nature, the focus of this paper is on procedural violations. The Prespa Agreement also has a lot of substantial mistakes which is in confrontation with the Constitutional, and the international law because the Prespa Agreements provisions derogate some essentially fundamental rights as a right of self-determination. But this paper is focused only on fundamental violations of legal norms that prescribes the procedure for promulgation of the Prespa Agreement - the process of negotiation, conclusion, ratification, and publishing. The process of negotiating, signing and ratifying the Prespa Agreement is followed by flagrant violations of the constitutional norms, statute norms, and the norms of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in the part that regulates the issue of persons who was competence for adopting an authenticating the text of a treaty. Besides the introductory part and historical introduction to the genesis of the problem, the focus of this paper is the procedure of negotiating, concluding, and ratifying the Prespa Agreement. The procedural aspects of the referendum on the Prespa Agreement will be elaborate in the part called “negotiation and conclusion of international agreement” because, by the time being, this referendum was issue notice after the conclusion phase and before ratification.