Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev in signing ceremony ending dispute over the use of the name Macedonia, June 17, 2018. Dimitris Tosidis/Press Association. All rights reserved.
The accord crafted between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) resolving the name dispute has an energising social potential. It potentially undermines nationalisms in the Southern Balkans, while at the same time fighting neo-liberal economics imposed on the Balkans from outside, which is a form of imperialism. This, nevertheless, is a forbiddingly uphill task given the lack of radical/progressive political subjects to carry out such a demanding process in both Greece and FYROM. In this regard, the accord brings about more NATO and Germany in the region, not good news. Lastly, I should point out that the agreement is profoundly anti-Russian.
North(ern) Macedonia
A number of conjunctural events and agential strategies, both domestic and external, have conspired to produce the agreement between Greece and FYROM, whereby the latter agreed to be re-named North(ern) Macedonia (as long as both parliaments and, in the case of FYROM, a referendum, approve the agreement). What are these events? The most important include:
