For Greece, the unfavourable ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague is a logical consequence of the 1995 Interim Accord, as Evangelos Kofos – historian and counselor of the Greek Foreign Ministry – stated at a colloquium held in Athens concerning Greece’s possible change of strategy in the name dispute following the ICJ decision in favour of Macedonia.
The debate, titled “Future Steps in Relations between Greece and FYROM”, focused on whether Greece needed to rethink its strategy after the Hague court’s ruling. Kofos, who is also a former diplomat, advocated that the agreement be revoked and bilateral talks launched for a fresh inter-state treaty based on relevant UN resolutions.
Former spokesman of the Greek MoFA, MEP George Koumoutsakos urged that such a move shouldn’t seem like “some kind of reflex reaction” and that “it needs to be encompassed in an overall strategy.”
Diplomat Alexandros Mallias, former head of the Greek liaison office in Skopje, also voiced his endorsement of a possible annulment of the Interim Accord.
Mallias said that the proposal of the name “the Republic of New Macedonia” – put forward in 1993 based on a plan by Cyrus Vance and David Owen, and rejected by Greece – had been the best solution. Mallias is not much of an optimist regarding the possibility of a swift conclusion, because “the other side now obviously feels stronger due to the ICJ decision, which in fact marks a bridge from international law to politics.”
George Koumoutsakos noted that the ICJ ruling would not put into jeopardy the conclusion reached at the NATO summit in Bucharest. “However, Greece needs to defend that conclusion with all of its force ahead of the NATO summit in Chicago in May,” he said.
The name issue is a story of missed chances, said Thanos Dokos – director general of the Athens-based think tank ELIAMEP. “At one point, one of the parties was more prepared for a compromise. There has never been a situation in which both parties were prepared to find a compromise in the name talks at the same time,” Dokos concluded.
(source:MINA News)
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