“This has been already said to us unofficially: that the problem with Greece will be a problem for our Euro-Atlantic integration,” Gruevski said in Brussels.
“Everyone told us unofficially that no matter what we do, the problem with Greece will be an obstacle.” he added.
On Monday, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned Macedonia that, even if country meets all the necessary reform requirements, Skopje could not progress in its European Union bid unless the ‘name row’ with Greece is solved.
“Without the resolution of the name issue, we cannot move forward, because this issue has to be solved first,” Kouchner warned on Monday evening after the European Union foreign ministers’ meeting.
However, the Macedonian Prime Minister assures that the warnings from the EU will not discourage reforms in the country. He promised the continuation of reforms, which will allow Macedonia to be “leader” country in the region.
“We will in couple of months be ready to say that we are completely ready and we wait for a political decision by the EU,” Gruevski said.
Initially the key stumbling block for Macedonia’s membership bid was a perceived lack of reforms.
However after Greece practically blocked Macedonia’s bid to join NATO in April because of the unresolved row, the ‘name’ dispute has become an obstacle for Macedonia in its bid to join the EU.
Athens argues that Macedonia’s name might lead to Skopje making territorial claims over its own northern province which is also called Macedonia.
Since April, the United Nations-sponsored talks for finding a solution to the row have intensified but so far in vain. After Skopje took Athens before the World Court over Greece’s effective veto of Macedonia’s NATO membership bid last month, the talks have ground to a halt.
