|
Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
|
 |
Macedonia: EU/NATO or part of a forgotten zone?
Macedonia, one of the smallest states in Europe that are outside the European Union (EU) and NATO, is struggling with the bad feeling that all trains are gone and all doors are closed. EU has just recently announced it wouldn't consider keeping on track of the enlargement, leaving candidate countries like Macedonia in perplexity. NATO may postpone sending invitation to Skopje until 2008, which is a long period measured by the Balkan time measures. Greece is showing again to be essential for any Balkan country, including Macedonia, in their bid toward both NATO and EU. By the time when Macedonia considers its final act of 'capitulation' before the stronger party, development in neighboring Serbia may bring the small country again out of the Euro-Atlantic orbit. Macedonia wants to join the EU and NATO. This is a top priority for its government and population. By doing so it hopes solving many questions and settling many uncertainties. The EU will be the major economic driving force for modernization that will bring the country into 21st c. NATO will be the military insurance policy for the small country, a protector for its shaky borders and symbol of its Euro-Atlantic affiliation. As far as Macedonia is concerned, its government and population are ready to accomplish some necessary steps toward achieving these goals. Are two institutions however ready to open their arms for a country that just 5 years ago was on a verge of interethnic war? The EU recently announced it would postpone any new enlargement because of what they call 'enlargement fatigue'. This term means that the EU institutions aren't able to absorb newcomers. Every new country means redistributing votes in the Council of ministers and in the European parliament, finding job for yet another European commissioner, and last but not least, finding additional money for yet another poor country looking at the EU as a milky cow. Macedonia may indeed be ready to accomplish all technical requirements for EU membership by 2012, but the main question is whether the country will be given a chance to begin accession negotiations by that time. More or less the same situation surrounds NATO, although they don't call it 'enlargement fatigue'. They are far more concerned with the fact whether a new member brings additional security to the organization or takes away part of its own security. In other words, NATO wants to have new members as far as they increase the overall security, not members that have unsettled disputes, especially with other NATO members. Macedonia is still falling into the second category. It may wish to be invited to join NATO by 2008, but in the Balkan context 2 years are a very long period, just for the record the whole Bosnian war took 3 1/2 years from the first shots to the final armistice. Greece holds the keys for Macedonian membership in the EU and NATO. It recently stated that its approval goes though finding a mutually acceptable name for the republic; the assumption being of course that the name 'Macedonia' isn't acceptable because of its association with the ancient Greece and Alexander the Great. In Skopje this condition sounds like asking the country to capitulate before the stronger side. In fact this condition is just confirmation of the simple fact that Macedonia wants to join the EU and NATO, and not the other way around. Most candidate countries in Eastern Europe had to make significant sacrifices in order to get their membership tickets. Some had to change their constitutions, some had to close nuclear reactors, some had to settle down interethnic conflicts, and some had to give up historic claims. In the case of Macedonia it concern its constitutional name, which may seem far more important than all other conditions but in general it isn't more painful as for example changing all constitutional structure to satisfy a particular minority. It will be a big mistake if Macedonia instead of taking seriously this, maybe its last chance to move fast toward the EU and NATO, instead of this starts trying bargaining on the details. The situation in Europe is very different from what it was 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. The West feels already doing more than enough to fix the old problems related to the Cold War division of Europe. European countries that fall outside the EU and NATO enlargement process cannot blame for this anybody else but themselves. Some recent political developments in neighboring Serbia may turn the Western Balkans, including Macedonia, into a forgotten zone for Euro-Atlantic enlargement.
Macedonia profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Macedonia.
|
See also:
