Macedonia’s bid to join EU in limbo
MACEDONIA’S hopes of joining the European Union and Nato were in limbo on Monday, a day after voters backed a plan to change the country’s name by a large margin but failed to hit the 50 per cent turnout required for the referendum result to be valid.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said he would press on regardless with a vote in parliament to endorse the change of name to the “Republic of North Macedonia” but the defence minister said an early election might now prove necessary, potentially derailing the whole plan due to a tight timeframe.
Some 91 per cent of voters backed the name change, demanded by neighbouring Greece as a precondition for it lifting its veto on Macedonia joining the EU and Nato. But turnout was just 36.9 per cent, final figures showed, far below the required threshold for the referendum to be valid.
While the referendum was formally advisory, lawmakers had pledged to abide by it. But the low turnout means they are now free to vote against the name change and the nationalist opposition has 49 seats in the 120seat parliament, enough to block the twothirds majority needed to change the constitution.
The EU, echoing the pro-Western Mr Zaev, hailed the referendum result as a ringing endorsement of Macedonia’s plans to join the bloc and Nato.
“It is now in the hands of politicians in Skopje to decide on the way forward,” Nato head Jens Stoltenberg and top EU official Donald Tusk said in a joint statement. “We encourage them to seize this historic opportunity.”
Russia, which opposes Nato eastern expansion, said it expected the law in Macedonia to be respected.
The main nationalist opposition VMRODPMNE has vowed to block the legislation. Its supporters mainly boycotted the vote in order to invalidate the result. The party says the failure to reach the threshold meant Macedonians had rejected the change.
“In the coming week we will assess if we can secure the necessary majority for the constitutional changes, and if not we will call an early election,” Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska said.
“The downside is that the election would postpone adoption of the constitutional changes for 45 to 60 days,” she said.
Political analysts said the lack of a decisive referendum outcome greatly complicated the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic’s push to join Western structures.
“Instead of having a clearer picture the outcome of the referendum will only deepen the political crisis,’ said Petar Arsovski a political analyst. “We are likely heading towards early elections and Macedonia does not have time for that.”
Greece has insisted on the change because it views the name “Macedonia” as implying a territorial claim on a northern Greek region of that name. Greece’s parliament must also approve the June name deal and, like Mr Zaev, leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras also faces opposition from his nationalist foes.
An early election could be called in Macedonia for the end of November at the earliest, pushing the constitutional changes into the spring.
In Moscow, which regards Nato enlargement as a threat to its own security, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We are observing closely and of course think that all the processes should remain within the framework of the law.”