UN court decides on Fyrom vs Greece case - The Best from Greece

GREECE is expecting a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on December 5 that will add another headache to the transitional government: its stance towards the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) and its long dispute over the republic’s name. 

 

At 10am local time on December 5, the court will issue its verdict on whether Greece violated the Interim Accord, a treaty signed by Greece and Fyrom in 1995, by objecting to Fyrom’s membership of Nato. The public hearings on the case were held from 21 March to 30 March 2011.

 

The decision of the ICJ, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, does not concern the name, but the violation of the accord. On April 2008, Nato member states met in Bucharest and decided that Fyrom would not be invited to begin the accession process. However, if the ICJ rules that Greece acted illegally by blocking Fyrom’s way into Nato - Greece says that it was a unanimous decision of the alliance’s members - then the Greek government will have to revamp its strategy vis-a-vis the accession of Fyrom in the EU and Nato.

 

The discussions between the two sides on the name issue, however, have not made much progress. “In recent months the government in Skopje has employed aggressive rhetoric that undermines the efforts to improve the climate,” foreign ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras told journalists on November 24. 

 

A week earlier, in his first speech to parliament as foreign minister, Stavros Dimas noted that “the international community is aware of Athens’ readiness and its constructive stance, and it is also aware of [Fyrom Premier Nikola] Gruevski’s responsibility for today’s impasse”. 

 

Article 11 of the Interim Accord, which Fyrom accuses Greece of violating, states that “the Party of the First Part (Greece) agrees not to object to the application by, or the membership of, the Party of the Second Part (Fyrom) in international, multilateral and regional organisations and institutions of which the Party of the First Part is a member”. 

 

The ICJ’s decision on December 5 will consist of three parts. First, it will rule if this case comes within the jurisdiction, something that Greece rejects; second, if the Greek government violated its obligations under the Interim Accord; and, third, if Greece should be ordered to refrain from any action that violates its obligation under Article 11 in the future, as Fyrom demands. 

 

Citing unnamed sources, newspapers Kathimerini and To Vima reported that the international court will judge in Fyrom’s favour on the first two counts in the suit and in favour of Greece in the third. Speaking in parliament on November 16, the leader of Orthodox Popular Rally Yiorgos Karatzaferis anticipated that the decision of the court “will not be satisfactory” and spoke of a “hot potato” in the government’s hands.