Athens, 29 June 2024 (MIA) - The European Union made a historic mistake by delaying North Macedonia’s accession process despite the promises and expectations after the Prespa Agreement, the former Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for the name talks with Greece, Matthew Nimetz, told Greek news site “In”, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports.

Nimetz participated in the International Conference on Peace and Sustainable Development held in Athens on June 17-18 by the Alexis Tsipras Institute and Zoran Zaev Foundation and spoke to “In” about the Prespa Agreement, the situation in the region and beyond, as well as the EU’s role.

“I think the European Union made a historic mistake by not moving fast on North Macedonia’s accession to the Union. Promises were made. There were expectations in North Macedonia that once the dispute with Greece is solved, which was done with the Prespa Agreement and the constitutional amendments – and which was very difficult for them to do – then the accession process would move fast. But that didn’t happen. It was delayed due to many different reasons. And you can explain it in different ways, but it led to an erosion in trust in North Macedonia,” Nimetz said. 

Regarding the Prespa Agreement, Nimetz said it is a “really important and very good agreement for both countries”, but also a compromise, in a region where, he said, “no one likes compromises”.

“In the US, the word compromise is a positive word. If you disagree with someone you enter a different room, you come out and say that a compromise has been reached and everyone is very happy. In this region if you say that a compromise has been reached, the people consider that a failure. They look at what you’ve given up on and not what you’ve gained. And all these agreements, of course, if you reach an agreement on a dispute, it’s usually a compromise. And now we have a situation where, the leadership of North Macedonia initially made some statements over the use of the name which I believe is worrying,” Nimetz said.

Nimetz assessed that the Agreement won’t fail, because, he said, it is “strong and ratified by both parliaments” but noted that there is a risk of it not being implemented.

“North Macedonia’s new leadership said they would respect the Agreement. While the Mitsotakis Government here in Greece has, since the beginning, said it is an international Agreement that they would respect. I don’t think there is a question of a failure of the Agreement, but there is a risk that people fail to implement it. So, one side won’t do this, the other side won’t do that, and ultimately, the expectations that it will bring the two countries closer won’t be fulfilled,” Nimetz said.

Regarding the region, Nimetz said there are “more issues than we think” which aren’t on the level of Ukraine or the Middle East or the rivalry between the US and China but could spiral out of control in the region. 

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