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North Macedonia's EU membership bid complicated by new nationalist government
Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, shares his perspective on European politics from Arizona, US.
What's the outcome and the likely result of the North Macedonia parliamentary election?
A new government, more nationalist, more rightists coming in. And the problem with that is that North Macedonia has made a number of concessions in order to make its EU path possible. First concessions through Greece in terms of the names and the number of concessions through France and a number of concessions through Bulgaria on minority and related issues. And the new government has got to say no to a lot of these things. And that further complicates the EU process, which is highly regrettable because the country in substance really deserves to move forward on that process.
What was the result of Xi Jinping's much celebrated tour of Europe?
Well, the tour was really restricted to France, where he had the usual talks with President Macron and I think Macron was an alliance, was an alliance had the right words concerning what China is doing in terms of supporting Ukraine, which is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine, which is creating problems in the relationship to Europe, whether it's sorted out any of the economic issues remains to be seen. And then, of course, he went on to Serbia and to Hungary, which are much more China-friendly countries and much publicity and new agreements of different sorts. But if you to talk about the overall relationship between China and Europe, the European Union, I don't think much was changed by this particular trip.
XIÁN, CHINA- In the photos, people visit the scenic place of the city wall of Xi'an in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, northwest China, on March 4, 2020.
Hard Numbers: Chinese cities lift home-buying restrictions, Humanitarian aid ship sets sail, Car gun theft triples, Opposition wins in North Macedonia, Malaysia introduces orangutan diplomacy
230 million: On Thursday, officials in Hangzhou and Xi’an, cities with a combined population of more than 25 million people, lifted all restrictions on buying new homes. The moves are part of a push by many Chinese cities to bolster the country’s sagging property market. The announcements drew more than230 million views on the social media site Weibo.
1: Thefirst ship moving humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza departed Thursday for a floating platform built by the US military. On arrival, the cargo will be transferred to smaller US vessels that will then bring it ashore.
3: A new report finds the rate of guns stolen from cars in the United States hastripled over the past decade. In 2022, the last year for which stats are available, about 112,000 guns were reported stolen in the US, and just over half were taken from automobiles, most of them parked outside people’s homes.
58: Following an election earlier this week in North Macedonia, the opposition VRMO will control58 of the 120 seats in Parliament and the presidency. As a result, party officials say they can form a coalition government with like-minded allies to defy demands from Bulgaria’s government to recognize rights for the country’s Bulgarian minority in its constitution. Bulgaria can block North Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union, which requires unanimous approval of all members.
2: Malaysia’s government announced a plan to send rare orangutans, majestic primates only found in the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra, as gifts to zoos in countries that buy its palm oil. Malaysia isthe world’s second-largest producer of palm oil, a product found in more than half of supermarket packaged products. The EU said last year it wouldphase out the import of palm oil as a biofuel because its production encourages deforestation in some of the last regions where orangutans live wild.North Macedonia heads to the polls on Wednesday in a vote overshadowed by one big issue: disputes with neighbors that could derail the tiny Balkan republic’s fledgling EU membership bid.
North Macedonia’s election stokes Balkan beefs
North Macedonia heads to the polls on Wednesday in a vote overshadowed by one big issue: disputes with neighbors that could derail the tiny Balkan republic’s fledgling EU membership bid.
The governing, center-left Social Democratic Union of Macedonia will likely lose power to a center-right coalition with a nine-word name that we’ll just call by its acronym VMRO-DPMNE.
While economic woes and corruption are key voter concerns, VMRO-DPMNE has also rallied support by striking a nationalist tone – namely by rejecting long-standing demands from neighboring Bulgaria that North Macedonia recognize its own, small Bulgarian minority.
Bulgaria, already an EU member, has threatened to freeze North Macedonia’s accession bid unless its demands are met.
VMRO-DMRE has also stoked an old dispute with Greece by publicly calling the country “Macedonia.” In 2019, Greece got North Macedonia to add “North” to its name, because of Athens’ view that “Macedonia” proper is a region of Greece. That agreement opened the way for North Macedonia to join NATO and begin EU talks.
But progress has been slow, raising popular frustrations and fueling VMRO-DPMNE’s resurgence. If VMRO-DPMNE takes power, as expected, the situation will heat up further, particularly as Bulgaria heads toward its own elections next month.
What We’re Watching: Duterte’s meltdown, Bulgaria blocks North Macedonia, Middle East prepares for Biden
Duterte's typhoon troubles: As the Philippines struggles with the aftermath of Typhoon Vamco, which killed almost 70 people and submerged parts of the main island of Luzon, tough-talking President Rodrigo Duterte defended himself from accusations of poor disaster management by lashing out at Vice President Leni Robredo on live TV. The president, unleashing a barrage of sexist remarks at the Veep, falsely claimed that his political rival Robredo — the Philippines elects the VP separately from the president — had criticized him for being absent at the height of the storm, when Duterte was (virtually) attending a regional meeting of Southeast Asian leaders. Robredo, for her part, called the president a misogynist, and said she's not competing with him after Duterte threatened to be her "nightmare" if she ran in the next presidential election. We're watching to see if the typhoon disaster — or Duterte's meltdown about it — will make a dent in his popular support, which remains strong despite growing discontent over his handling of this latest crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
Things go south (again) for North Macedonia: The small Balkan country once known clunkily as the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" just can't seem to catch a break. Two years ago, the country finally got itself on the (longshot) path to EU membership by agreeing to call itself "North Macedonia", resolving a long-running name dispute with its southern neighbor, Greece. But with the Greeks out of the way, now Skopje (the North Macedonian capital) is running into problems with its eastern neighbor — Bulgaria. The Bulgarians say they will veto any North Macedonian EU accession talks until the two iron out their own linguistic and ethnic disputes. Among other things, Bulgaria wants the North Macedonians to recognize Macedonian as a dialect of Bulgarian, rather than an independent language. Since EU accession talks require the unanimous consent of current member states, the North Macedonians are up against a wall again. And to make matters worse for Skopje, some other EU members who are skeptical of expanding the bloc at all are right now reported to be quietly OK with the Bulgarian roadblock.
Middle East starts US transition: While President Trump still refuses to concede to President-elect Joe Biden in the US election, leaders in the Middle East are quietly preparing for the transition of power, even as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tours the region this week. Pompeo is scheduled to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, which analysts view as a parting gift to Prime Minister "Bibi" Netanyahu, who seeks to normalize the settlements over Palestinian objections that they are illegal (and also likely an attempt by Pompeo to boost his own street cred with evangelicals as he eyes his post-Trump political career). Indeed, the Trump's administration's proposed peace plan for the Middle East was overwhelmingly rejected by the Palestinians because it would have allowed Israel to annex a third of the West Bank. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has now agreed to resume ties with Israel that had been suspended for months over the annexation plans. Are both sides ready to move on from Trump? Biden is widely expected to return to the Obama administration's Middle East policy, which supported Israel but called for a two-state solution. That's bad news for Bibi and offers a glimmer of hope for the Palestinians, whose position has suffered under Trump. What's in store for the region with Biden in the White House?
A deal on the EU Recovery Fund? North Macedonia and the EU
Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, with the view from Europe:
Is it likely that there will be a deal on the EU Recovery Fund at the summit this weekend?
That remains to be seen. There's a huge amount that needs to be decided, both concerning the immensely big recovery fund and also the entire seven-year budget for the entire European Union. And there are significant divergences between views, so far. So, there might be a deal, but it might also be somewhat delayed. I'm quite certain at the end of the day there will be the deal.
Does the result of the North Macedonia election make it more likely that the Balkan country will start to enter the European Union?
Yes, in the sense that I think that there will be the start of negotiations for accession of North Macedonia to the European Union starting by the end of this year. And that is a significant breakthrough for a country that has been in a difficult situation prior both to the agreement on Greece, with Greece on the name, and this election. So, it's a positive sign for the region.