Mr. Besimi called his country’s accession to NATO “as important as the independence of Macedonia,” saying that it would benefit Macedonia on many levels, including economically.
“Foreign investors need stability,” he said. “And NATO membership is a sign of stability.”
Mr. Besimi also argued that NATO, which intervened in the Balkans twice in the 1990s, has a unique interest in the region’s integration.
“We, as a region, have faced many armed conflicts in the last 20 years, and a lot of resources have been given to bring peace in the region,” he said. “Now, the challenge is to make this peace sustainable.”
Macedonia’s NATO bid received a boost in December when the International Court of Justice ruled 15-to-1 that Greece had “breached its obligation” under a 1995 interim accord by not allowing Macedonia to join NATO under the name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” which is the name it uses at the United Nations.
Macedonia has also been a candidate for European Union membership since 2005, but negotiations have stalled over the same dispute.
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
Ben Birnbaum is a reporter covering foreign affairs for The Washington Times. Prior to joining The Times, Birnbaum worked as a reporter-researcher at the New Republic. A Boston-area native, he graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in government and psychology. He won multiple collegiate journalism awards for his articles and columns in the Cornell Daily Sun.
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