UN Court Hears Suit on Macedonia-Greece Name Dispute

Macedonian walks near a wall that is painted with Macedonian flag in the capitol Skopje,The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 21 March 2011. EPA/BGNES

The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague has started hearings to resolve the notorious 20-year name dispute between Macedonia and Greece.

Macedonia stating its arguments before the court on Monday and Tuesday, and Greece will do the same on Thursday and Friday. On March 28, Macedonia will respond to Greece's defence and the hearing will conclude on March 30 with the final word from the Greek side.

The 15 ICJ judges are expected to rule on this case within the next six months, or by the end of the year at the latest.

Macedonia filed a suit against Greece with the ICJ in 2009 for blocking its accession to NATO in 2008 over Macedonia's unresolved name dispute.

Macedonia argues that a de facto Greek veto on its NATO accession violates a 1995 UN-brokered Interim Accord, which regulates relations between the two states, obliging Greece not to block the accession of its neighbor to international organizations.

The matter of contention is whether Greece technically vetoed Macedonia's EU accession to NATO in 2008. Greece will try to prove that it did not, while Macedonia will seek to use statements from former Greek officials to show that it did.

Greece argues that Macedonia broke the 1995 accord by taking a hard line over the "name" issue and by "stealing" its history by renaming airports, highways and sport arenas after Ancient Greek heroes, the Asia Reviews sums up quoting analysts as saying they are unsure if an ICJ ruling in Macedonia's favor would be applicable.

The notorious "name dispute" is based on Greek concerns with Macedonia's constitutional name ("Republic of Macedonia") because much of Northern Greece is called "Macedonia" as an administrative district. Therefore, recognizing the same name for its neighbor could legitimize potential territorial claims by Skopje.

Because of the name dispute, in place since 2001, Greece has so far obstructed Macedonia's accession to NATO, and blockaded the start of EU accession talks with Macedonia. Because of the Greek position the Republic of Macedonia was admitted to the UN under the made-up name of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia)."

Meanwhile, freshly released US diplomatic cables revealed that Greek Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos told the US Ambassador to Greece that the Macedonia name dispute has been a "disaster" from the start and that Greece's neighbor should be allowed to use any name it wants, the Ekathemerini newspaper reported.

According to a batch of classified diplomatic cables from the US Embassy in Athens that were originally obtained by WikiLeaks and later seen by Kathimerini, Pangalos met with then US Ambassador Daniel Speckhard in February 2008.

In Spechkard's dispatch to the State Department, the diplomat reports that Pangalos said it was an honor to Greece that Skopje should want to use the term Macedonia and that it should be free to do so.

Pangalos also describes as "absurd" Greek fears that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia) has expansionist tendencies. He blamed this on fears on the right of Greek politics, which stem back to the Civil War and concerns that communists would enter Greece from the Slavic countries.

According to the cable, Pangalos also expressed support for the proposals put forward by United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz.

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