Slovenia & Greece Clash on Macedonia EU Bid

[Ariadni_Nefeli]

And now after Slovenia, France will have the EU presidency and...well we all know where Sarkozi stands!

NO EU, NO NATO, NO NOTHING!

[Bardas]

Greece flexes muscles in Macedonia name spat

EU leaders on Friday (20 June) adopted watered down objectives on Macedonia's progress towards the European Union following pressure from Greece over the country's name.

"The European Council [EU leaders] underlines that further steps by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in its progress towards the EU are possible by the end of this year," reads a statement signed off by member states at the end of a two-day summit in Brussels.

This is a much more ambiguous statement than had earlier been circulated. The previous version said that EU leaders were "looking forward to the opening of the accession negotiations with FYROM by the end of this year."
The text was watered down under Greek pressure, according to diplomatic sources, as Athens wants its name row with Skopje to be solved before its northern neighbour is allowed a step closer to the EU.

Athens has been refusing to recognise its neighbour's constitutional name - the Republic of Macedonia - since the country declared independence in 1991, saying it implies territorial claims on a northern Greek province also called Macedonia.

Greece's concerns also meant that a paragraph was added to the text stressing that "maintaining good neighbourly relations, including a negotiated and mutually acceptable solution on the name issue, remains essential" for Macedonia's EU integration process.

Reference to "the name issue" was also absent from the previous version of the text.

http://euobserver.com/15/26367

Of course we got what we want, the same way we got Cyprus into the EU.

[Bardas]

According to the Houston Chronicle:

Voter violence puts Macedonia EU membership on hold

The European Union on Friday punished Macedonia for election violence by not fixing a date for the start of accession talks.

An earlier draft statement by leaders said the EU was "looking forward" to the opening of talks with Macedonia on possible future membership by the end of the year.

But an edited copy endorsed at an EU summit now merely acknowledges "further steps" by Macedonia are still possible in 2008 in its drive to join the EU.

Macedonian parliamentary elections on June 1 were marred by violence and irregularities, leading to reruns Sunday, and now, a third vote on June 29.

Croatia and Turkey are also candidates for EU membership, but they have started accession talks.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5849215.html