Greece-Macedonia Name Dispute

The dispute over Macedonia's constitutional name goes back to the Republic of Macedonia's declaration of independence in 1991.

Greece claims that the term Macedonia refers to the historical Kingdom of Macedon and that its use in a neighbouring country's name would usurp an essential part of exclusively "Greek" culture and heritage. It also contends that the use of the name Macedonia implies territorial ambitions on a northern Greek province that bears the same name.

Following the Republic of Macedonia's declaration of independence in 1991, Greece's vigorous objections to the inclusion of the word "Macedonia" in the country's name delayed its recognition by the international community and its accession to the UN. A compromise formula, "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM), was devised as a provisional reference rather than an official name for the country. In April 1993, Macedonia joined the UN under this name. Other international organisations, such as the IMF and the World Bank, adopted the UN terminology, and many countries recognised the country as the FYR of Macedonia. Greece initially did not recognise the country at all, and imposed a trade embargo on Macedonia. The embargo, which lasted until 1995, was particularly damaging for the Macedonian economy; as a landlocked country, it is dependent on access to Greek ports.

A 1995 Interim Accord, in which neither country is mentioned by name, led to a relative normalisation of relations. The Republic of Macedonia agreed to alter its flag, dropping the Vergina Sun, a symbol found among the tombs of the ancient kings of Macedon (and designated by the Greek Parliament in 1993 as an official national symbol). Macedonia also made amendments to its constitution, expressly denying any claims on Greek territory. Greece agreed not to block Macedonian accession to international organisations of which Greece was itself a member, provided that Macedonia would accede under the name of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." Greece has since become a close economic partner and one of the largest foreign investors in Macedonia.
However, the name issue has not been resolved, despite UN mediation. Over 100 countries, including all permanent UN Security Council members except France, have recognised Macedonia under its constitutional name. But this is of little help to Macedonia to achieve its most important foreign policy aims.

In April 2008, at the NATO summit in Bucharest, Greece rejected all proposals by the Macedonian government and UN mediator Matthew Nimetz – including the name "Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)" – and vetoed Macedonia's accession to NATO. As Macedonia would have also agreed to accede as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", the Greek veto was nothing but a clear breach of the 1995 Interim Agreement.

In December 2009, Greece vetoed the start of Macedonia's EU membership negotiations.
The core of the problem is a complete lack of trust. Greece realises that its only leverage to get the Republic of Macedonia to change its constitutional name is to use its position as a member of the EU to block Macedonia's path to EU membership.