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 Greece |  North Macedonia |
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Bilateral relations exist between Greece and North Macedonia. Greece has an embassy in Skopje, and a Consulate General in Bitola. Similarly, North Macedonia maintains an embassy in Athens, and a consulate-general in Thessaloniki. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe and NATO. Greece is an EU member and North Macedonia is an EU candidate.
Ever since the former Republic of Macedonia broke away from former Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece refused to recognize its name. [1]
The provisional reference the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) [2] was used in relations with Greece from 1991 to 2019. All United Nations member-states agreed to accept any final agreement resulting from negotiations between the two countries. The dispute did not prevent the two countries from enjoying close trade links and investment levels (especially from Greece)[ citation needed ], but it generated a great deal of political and academic debate on both sides.
On 13 September 1995, the two countries signed the Interim Accord, [2] whereby Greece recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its provisional reference. [2] Negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute continued intermittently from 1995 to 2018. Under Greek pressure, the European Union and NATO agreed that in order for the Republic of Macedonia to receive an invitation to join these institutions the name dispute needed to be resolved first. [3] [4] [5] This resulted in a case at the International Court of Justice against Greece for violation of the Interim Accord. [6]
In the 2001 insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia, Greece sent peacekeeping forces together with other NATO and European Union members. In addition, Greece donated 10 APC Leonidas-2 to the Republic of Macedonia.
On 4 October 2012, the Greek foreign minister Dimitris Avramopoulos sent a memorandum of understanding to the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Poposki. [7] [8]
On 12 June 2018, Greece agreed to recognize its neighbor as the Republic of North Macedonia, [9] a move which the Republic of Macedonia welcomed, [10] and on 17 June 2018 the two Prime Ministers (Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev) signed the Prespa agreement ending the naming dispute. [11] [9] The agreement was subject to a national referendum held in the Republic of Macedonia on 30 September 2018, which approved the agreement and renamed the country to "North Macedonia".
In 2019 Delphi Economic Forum, Alexis Tsipras announced also the intention of the two countries to found a Supreme Council of Cooperation. [12]
Prior to 2019, Greece maintained a Liaison Office in Skopje and an Office of Consular, Economic and Commercial Affairs in Bitola. Similarly, North Macedonia maintained a Liaison Office in Athens and an Office for Consular, Economic and Commercial Affairs in Thessaloniki. However, since May 2019, the two countries exchanged notes verbales upgrading their Liaison Offices and the Consular Offices into Embassies and Consulate Generals, as result of the Prespa Agreement. [13]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Greece donated 20,000 vaccines to North Macedonia. [14]
As one of the oldest Euro-Atlantic member states in the region of Southeast Europe, Greece enjoys a prominent geopolitical role as a middle power, due to its political and geographical proximity to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Its main allies are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Cyprus and the rest of the European Union, NATO, and UN.
The foreign relations of North Macedonia since its independence in 1991 have been characterized by the country's efforts to gain membership in international organizations such as NATO and the European Union and to gain international recognition under its previous constitutional name, overshadowed by a long-standing, dead-locked dispute with neighboring Greece. Greek objections to the country's name had led to it being admitted to the United Nations and several other international fora only under the provisional designation Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until its official and erga omnes renaming to North Macedonia, a name under which it is now universally recognised.
Since the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the foreign policy of the newly established Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was characterized primarily by a desire to secure its political and geopolitical position and the solidarity with ethnic Serbs in other former Yugoslav republics through a strong nationalist campaign. While the country was involved in Yugoslav Wars and therefore exposed to several rounds of devastating sanctions against Yugoslavia this involvement was often denied for political or ideological reasons. In the initial period Federal Republic of Yugoslavia unsuccessfully aspired to gain international recognition as the sole legal successor state to SFR Yugoslavia, the country which was one of the most prominent foreign policy subjects during the Cold War.
The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greece. They are the highest tectonic lakes in the Balkans, standing at an elevation of 853 metres (2,799 ft).
The use of the country name "Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the Republic of Macedonia between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Western Balkans for 25 years. It was resolved through negotiations between Athens and Skopje, mediated by the United Nations, resulting in the Prespa agreement, which was signed on 17 June 2018. Pertinent to its background is an early 20th-century multifaceted dispute and armed conflict that formed part of the background to the Balkan Wars. The specific naming dispute, although an existing issue in Yugoslav–Greek relations since World War II, was reignited after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the newly-gained independence of the former Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1991. Since then, it was an ongoing issue in bilateral and international relations until it was settled with the Prespa agreement in June 2018, the subsequent ratification by the Macedonian and Greek parliaments in late 2018 and early 2019 respectively, and the official renaming of Macedonia to North Macedonia in February 2019.
Alexis Tsipras is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.
Greco-Russian relations are the bilateral foreign relations between Greece and Russia. The two countries first entered into diplomatic relations in 1828. Both Greece and Russia are members of international organizations and agreements, including the United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
Matthew Nimetz is an American diplomat and a former lawyer and retired managing director of a global private equity firm. He was the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. He was also the Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science, and Technology.
Croatian-Montenegrin relations are foreign relations between Croatia and Montenegro. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, and of the NATO. Croatia is an EU member and Montenegro is an EU candidate. Since the end of the Croatian War of Independence, the relations have been largely amicable, but a border dispute remains.
The accession of North Macedonia to the European Union has been on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU since 2005, when it became an official candidate for accession. The Republic of Macedonia submitted its membership application in 2004, thirteen years after its independence from Yugoslavia. It is one of eight current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
North Macedonia–Turkey relations are the bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Turkey. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and of the NATO. North Macedonia has an embassy in Ankara and a Consulate General in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Skopje.
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million people. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Roma, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
Czech Republic–North Macedonia relations refers to the bilateral political relations between the Czech Republic and the Republic of North Macedonia. North Macedonia has an embassy in Prague, whilst the Czech Republic has a consular agency in Skopje. Both countries are members of the Council of Europe, and NATO. Also Czech Republic is an EU member and North Macedonia is an EU candidate.
Nikola Dimitrov is a Macedonian politician and diplomat, who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for North Macedonia from 31 May 2017 to 30 August 2020. He also served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2000 and Macedonian ambassador to the United States and then the Netherlands. In 2014, he turned down an appointment as Macedonia's new ambassador to Russia.
India–North Macedonia relations are the bilateral relations between India and North Macedonia.
The Prespa Agreement, also known as the Treaty of Prespa, the Prespes deal or the Prespa accord, is an agreement reached in 2018 between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia, under the auspices of the United Nations, resolving a long-standing dispute between the two countries. Apart from resolving the terminological differences, the agreement also covers areas of cooperation between the two countries in order to establish a strategic partnership.
A referendum was held in the Republic of Macedonia on 30 September 2018, with voters asked whether they supported EU and NATO membership by accepting the Prespa agreement between Macedonia and Greece, signed in June 2018, which aimed to settle the 27-year naming dispute, which had prevented Macedonia from joining both the European Union and NATO. Despite 94% of voters voting in favour, voter turnout was around 37%, less than the 50% threshold required to validate the results.
The Embassy of the United States in Skopje is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in North Macedonia.
Croatia–North Macedonia relations are foreign relations between Croatia and North Macedonia. Two countries established diplomatic relations on 30 March 1992. Croatia is represented in North Macedonia via its Embassy in Skopje and honorary consul in Strumica while North Macedonia is represented in Croatia via its Embassy and the Cultural and Informational Center in Zagreb as well as consulate in Rijeka and honorary consul in Zadar. Croatia supports North Macedonia's European Union membership. Before their independence in early 1990s, both countries were constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as the SR Croatia and SR Macedonia respectively. Croatia was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the independence of the country during the period in which Zagreb itself awaited international recognition. During the long-lasting Macedonia naming dispute (1991-2019) and before the signature of the Prespa agreement Croatia was the first country in the world to recognize North Macedonia under its constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia instead of appellation "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Today, both countries are full members of the Council of Europe, and of the NATO. Croatia is an EU member and North Macedonia is an EU candidate. Since 2006 North Macedonia is a member state of the Central European Free Trade Agreement while Croatia was a member of the area between 2003 and 2013. Croatia strongly supports accession of North Macedonia to the European Union and also supported its NATO membership, being one of the first countries to ratify the membership protocol. Trade between the two countries reached 221 million euros in 2020.
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see also: Foreign relations of Yugoslavia | ||
