Elections in North Macedonia: turning away from Europe?
The right-wing conservative VMRO-DPMNE has emerged as the clear winner of the parliamentary and presidential elections in North Macedonia. As an opposition party it focused on Eurosceptic and nationalist issues in its campaign, touting plans to reverse the renaming of North Macedonia and terminate a neighbourhood agreement with Bulgaria, for example. Commentators discuss the international implications of the change of government.
Fresh challenges for Brussels
Ukrainska Pravda fears additional hurdles on North Macedonia’s path towards EU membership:
“VMRO-DPMNE will occupy the niche of the ‘soft Eurosceptics’ and demand that the EU accession process take place without painful concessions. This is precisely why, while in the opposition, it has criticised the current government — both for the agreement with Greece and for the compromise with Bulgaria. VMRO-DPMNE has already stated that it will seek to revise the agreement with Bulgaria. This could pose a major challenge for the EU, which recognises that Bulgaria’s demands are not fair but nevertheless failed to exert pressure on Sofia to defend the pro-European government of North Macedonia. So will Brussels do this for a Eurosceptic government?”
This shouldn’t come as a surprise
The EU is partly to blame for the nationalist shift to the right, Balkan correspondent Thomas Roser stresses in the Frankfurter Rundschau:
“For years, the EU partners did nothing to help the candidate country, which was forced to change its name, and instead constantly put new obstacles in its way — delaying the accession marathon it embarked on back in 2005. Those who wilfully miss opportunities should not be surprised at the consequences: not only the EU neighbours Bulgaria and Greece, but also the notorious EU enlargement obstructionists in Paris, The Hague and in the German CDU/CSU will have to take a good look at their own conduct if, in addition to Budapest, Beijing and Moscow now also gain more influence in Skopje.”
Dark clouds on the horizon
News website Capital fears for relations with Athens:
“In a country of only 1.8 million inhabitants, where the prospect of joining the EU was tied up with all kinds of hopes, the stagnation of recent years has caused frustration and anger and laid the foundations for new tensions. ... As for relations between Athens and Skopje, the elections have caused ‘clouds’ to gather on the horizon. ... Both [future president] Siljanovská and [VMRO-DPMNE leader] Mickoski have announced that they will not use the designation ‘North’ in their country’s name. Their revisionist aspirations naturally contradict the legally binding nature of the Prespa Agreement. ... But the mere dissemination of this within the country would suffice to prompt Athens to freeze relations.”
