Agence France-Presse,
BRUSSELS: Greece stood firm Thursday in refusing to allow Macedonia to join the world's biggest military alliance NATO until a row over its name, which has festered for more than 17 years, is resolved.
The aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine, whose attempts to join NATO are vehemently opposed by Russia, were also set back with allies unable to agree on whether to accelerate their entry.
As NATO foreign ministers considered whether to hand membership invitations to Macedonia, Albania and Croatia at a summit next month, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said Greece could only back two of the candidates.
“Greece supports the candidacy of Albania and Croatia,” she said, but added that “issues which are intertwined do not allow us to take the same position” for Macedonia.
“Greece will continue to work in a constructive spirit for a mutually acceptable solution,” she told reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
According to NATO officials and diplomats, the so-called Adriatic Three have largely met the technical criteria to join, but Greece is blocking Macedonia because its name is the same as a northern Greek province.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer underscored that the alliance works on unanimity, and that Greece would always be right, as a member nation.
“There's an ally, Greece, and a non ally, Macedonia,” he said.
“I hope that between now and Bucharest we will find a solution,” he said, referring to the Romanian capital where NATO's April 2-4 summit will be held.
Macedonia's name has inflamed emotions in Greece, which refuses to recognise the former Yugoslav republic with the same name as its province. Athens worries that recognising Macedonia's name could imply a claim on its territory.
More than 10,000 people protested in northern Greece on the eve of the meeting, some holding Greek flags and yelling: “Macedonia is Greek”.
Macedonia's constitutional name is “Republic of Macedonia”, and Skopje wants this used in international relations, except with Athens, where a name acceptable to both parties could be used.
Albania, Croatia and Macedonia are members of NATO's Membership Action Plan (MAP), which helps aspiring countries meet NATO standards and prepare for membership.
“Even though we believe that the aspirants must sprint to the finish, there was a general view that they have made a lot of progress,” said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
“We would hope that Greece and Macedonia will be able to accept a way forward,” she said.
One diplomat said she had urged the ministers not to “force Greece to commit political suicide”, as ceding over the issue could provoke nationalists, and add to tensions with Turkey and elsewhere in the Balkans.
The ministers also discussed the cases of Ukraine and Georgia, which have applied to join the MAP programme, but officials said “a broad spectrum of views” arose at the meeting.
According to another diplomat, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain expressed scepticism about their candidatures.
Ukraine's leaders support rapprochement with NATO but there is little public support for the move.
The Georgian public is largely in favour, but NATO nations were disturbed by the state of emergency it imposed in December to end opposition protests.
Above all, Russia has reacted angrily to the NATO ambitions of its ex-Soviet allies, with Russian officials saying their country is being surrounded.
But Scheffer said: “NATO's door is open and who finally passes through that door is decided by the NATO allies, only by them and not by any other nation.”
However Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said: “We have a new president in Russia and the European Union would want to start things on a new footing.”
“We have to take also the interests of others, not only those who are members of NATO, into account.”
