*** ANGELOS SYRIGOS, EVANTHIS CHATZIVASSILIOU: The Prespes Agreement and the Macedonian problem. Editions Patakis (38 Panayi Tsaldari, GR-10437 Athens. Tel.: (30-210) 3650000 - fax: 3811940 - E-mail: bookstore@patakis.gr - Internet: http://www.patakis.gr ). “Social and Political Sciences” Series. 2019, 152 pp., 9.70 €. ISBN 978-960-16-8260-0.
The Professors: Angelos Syrigos (International Law and Foreign Policy in the Department of International, European and Regional Studies at the Panteion University of Athens) and Evanthis Chatzivassiliou (Post-War History and Chairman of the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Athens) present, in this book, their scientific opinions on the Prespes Agreement of 7 June last and the Macedonian problem. More precisely, they examine: • Greece's strategy and objectives in the Macedonian question; • the provisions of the agreement relating to the name of the neighbouring State, nationality/citizenship, ethnicity/identity and language; • the right to self-identification (determination?) and the question of the recognition of the "Macedonian minority" in Greece; • NATO's dimension in this case; • the ratification of the agreement in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, including the last referendum and amendments to its Constitution; • the legal and political possibility to cancel or terminate the Prespes Agreement if it is ratified by Greece. The authors also assess this agreement in the light of developments in the Macedonian question over the past 150 years.
In the introduction, the authors warn that they have done everything in their power "to paint a complete, reliable and honest picture", their main motivation having been "to note that public dialogue, and in particular scientific dialogue about the agreement, has not always been conducted in a satisfactory manner". Additionally: "Our guide was the need to formulate opinions dictated by a scientific methodology. We will support a cautious and critical attitude towards the Prespes Agreement". This does not prevent them from making a very critical judgment on it insofar as it involved fundamental concessions from Greece, which would mark the complete abandonment of the key strategies of Athens in the southern Balkans and would inevitably lead to dangerous dead ends. In practice, if this agreement were implemented, Greece would adopt the policy announced by the Communist International in 1934: the recognition of a "Macedonian nation" and the rights of legal recourse "for Macedonian minorities" in neighbouring countries, particularly Greece.
The two academics observe that the supporters of the Prespes agreement are not a homogeneous group. Among them, a large subgroup is made up of people who share the old views of the Communist International. There is another, much smaller one, which, composed of people with very different ideological orientations but more often than not resolutely pro-European, support the agreement because they believe that the Macedonian question is not an essential part of Greece's foreign policy and that FYROM is not - and will never be - an adversary capable of threatening it.
Professors Syrigos and Chatzivassiliou base their analysis on a specific understanding of international affairs that is distinct from a functional mind, explaining: "We take into account the international environment and in particular international law. At the same time, we take into account the evolution of the Macedonian problem, the successive traumas in the Balkans, as well as the regional particularities of the Balkans. We respect all the other peoples who share this part of the world with us. The focus on the specific geographical area and its realities is a crucial element". However, international affairs are not natural science whose conclusions would apply regardless of location and time. Clearly, oversimplification in such a difficult area would be a very dangerous thing. With regard to the broader international climate, the authors take it for granted that countries outside the Balkans that are campaigning for an agreement - even the major powers - would applaud any solution, whether or not it mentions the name "Macedonia". In reality, it is not their problem, nor would they care whether the solution chosen is stable in the long term and offers the prospect of a definitive solution. This, the authors argue, is how international diplomacy works on problems considered minor and low-intensity, such as the Macedonian problem. Hence their conclusion: "The attitude of forces other than those of the Balkans is dictated by their own interests. It is up to them to find a definitive solution. It is our responsibility as Greeks to look after the interests of our country, and our responsibility as the Balkans (namely Greece and FYROM) is to ensure the stability of our common region. The Prespes Agreement does not provide a basis for such a stable and definitive long-term solution."
Thanassis Kalfas
*** ALEXANDROS MALLIAS: Greece and Northern Macedonia. The autopsy of the difficult Prespa agreement. Editions Sideris (116 rue Solonos, Gr-10681 Athens. Tel.: (30-210) 3833434 - fax: 3832294 - E-mail: contact@isideris.gr). 2018, 204 pp., 12 €. ISBN 978-960-08-0795-0.
Honorary Ambassador Alexandros Mallias is a great expert on the Balkans. He has been working on the Macedonian issue continuously since 1991, becoming Greece's first diplomatic representative in Skopje, the capital of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in 1995, after the signing of the Interim Agreement. In this essay, the Greek diplomat stresses that consultation is a prerequisite for finding solutions to so-called "national problems" and condemns the lack of honest efforts in this regard. His autopsy of the Prespa Agreement highlights the positive erga omnes meaning of the compound name "Northern Macedonia", with a revision of the constitution. At the same time, he considers that the central problems of language and ethnicity-citizenship-nationality are the Achilles' heel, since it is true that the Agreement does not provide total clarity about them. In his preface, Evangelos Venizelos considers that Alexandros Mallias contributes, through this book, "to an unfortunately truncated national dialogue that is almost always influenced by its economic feasibility" on such a politically sensitive subject, the former Greek Foreign Minister (among others...) welcoming the fact that this analysis goes beyond a strictly national framework to place the problem in a broader historical and political context. What is the Greek government's internal political choice? What are the critical legal issues to expect? What was the contribution of the opposition? What was the national conciliation prior to the solution? Who are the actors of the international upheavals and those active in Greece's neighbourhood? These are some of the questions answered by this man who, in 2007, received the Luther King Prize from Washington International for his work in the Balkans. This is complemented by a lengthy analysis of the Prespa Agreement, a chronological presentation of the facts leading to it and a list of the mistakes made by the Greek governments. (AKa)
*** SPYRIDON SFETAS: The transformation of the Macedonian problem. The long way to Prespes. Editions Sideris (116 rue Solonos, Gr-10681 Athens. Tel.: (30-210) 3833434 - fax: 3832294 - E-mail: contact@isideris.gr). 2018, 256 pp., 14 €. ISBN 978-960-08-0812-4.
While disconcerting to outside observers, the Macedonian issue is nevertheless a complex one in the Balkans. Its particularity is that, in the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th century, this question was different from what it is today. In the 19th century, the "Macedonian Question" was understood as the rivalry of the Greeks, Bulgarians and Serbs to appropriate the Macedonian region and impose Greek, Bulgarian or Serbian identity in a predominantly Slavic population. After the Second World War, this question acquired a different content: as the analysis in this book by Spyridon Sfetas, Professor of Balkan History in the Department of History and Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, shows, the Macedonian question has become a Yugoslav question. The idea was to form a Slavic-Macedonian identity in the Federated People's Republic of Macedonia, but also to add the concept of "macedoinity" to Yugoslav politics. The term Slavo-Macedonian should therefore not be understood as an ethnic mixture of former Macedonians and Slavs after the 7th century, but as a variation of the identity of Slavs in Macedonian space after the Second World War, a process that continues to this day. The essence of the modern Macedonian question is therefore the definition of identity, which is the spirit of the Prespes Agreement concluded by Prime Ministers Tsipras and Zaev on the shores of a very beautiful lake belonging to Greece, Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. (AKa)
*** KONSTANTINOS PLEVRIS: Macedonia's geopolitical position. Editions Hilektron (81 rue Skoufa, GR-10680 Athens. Tel.: (30-210) 3605305 - fax: 3605325 - E-mail: info@hilektron.gr - Internet http://www.hilektron.gr ). 2018, 162 pp., 12.78 €. ISBN 978-618-5254-31-5.
In the introduction to this book, Konstantinos Plevris explains: "This book, now in its fourth edition, updated and expanded, aims to inform Greeks of Macedonia's geopolitical position under the current conditions of Greece's close and enlarged periphery, so as to contribute to its understanding beyond the evolving political situation. After having briefly described what geopolitics is today, he sets out to see where Macedonians come from before taking stock of Macedonia's borders and geomorphology, the administrative system and the social and economic organisation of the region, as well as the geopolitical exploitation that is possible there. The author confirms that Macedonia was indeed Greek before the Balkan Union and wonders whether it should be protected today, making recommendations in this regard in the context of the Balkans. He thinks, for example, that the Aegean Sea depends on Macedonia and that Europe is against Macedonia, before also analysing the Muslim presence. The author's conclusions are enriched by explanatory maps of the region and a directory of historical events and the main political actors who have an important role to play. (AKa)
*** GEORGIOS DOUDOUMIS: The Balkans in the shadow of yesterday. Editions Karavia (35 rue Asklipiou, GR-10680 Athens. Tel./fax: (30-210) 3620465 - E-mail: karaviareprints@ath.forthnet.gr - Internet http://www.rarebooks.com.gr ). 2018, 160 pp., 8.48 €. ISBN 978-960-258-134-6.
The idea of a Balkan Cooperation Council would encourage the countries of the region to address together issues such as debt, productive investment, energy efficiency, how to prevent the Balkans from being used as a battleground for foreign interests (for example in a US-led war against Russia...) and many other issues. For the author, a Greek diplomat and economic expert, everything therefore contributes to the institutionalisation of an inter-Balkan institution promoting cooperation between the countries of the Balkan region, in order to consolidate peace and accelerate the development process of each of these countries and the region as a whole. It would also require a convergence of the foreign policies of these countries, as illustrated by the current refugee crisis and, more generally, the problem of migration combined with the region's demographic problem. The recipe for success from a common Balkan perspective should be based on the the model of "one for all and all for one", without any attempt to make one of the group's elements prevail. Georgios Doudoumis envisages in these pages the creation of a new political map after studying the Balkans today, corruption in the various Balkan countries, the demographic problem, the Balkans on the international scene, the energy corridor, etc. It also provides an analysis of the Greek strategic approach in the region. An extensive bibliography enriches the book. (AKa)
*** Südosteuropa Mitteilungen. Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft (49 Widenmayerstrasse, D-80538 Munich. Tel.: (49-89) 212154-0 – fax: 2289469 – Email: info@sogde.org – Internet: http://www.sogde.org ). 2018, 128 pp., 15 €. Annual subscription: 80 €.
In addition to contributions dedicated to the troubled world of the press (murder of the Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak, the work on the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in the Western Balkans and Russia's intrusion into the Serbian media), this issue of Südosteuropa Mitteilungen contains several articles on the Western Balkans, particularly in the light of the EU's prospects for enlargement to this region, "between fiction and reality". It also refers to "Greece as 'Orient in the Occident'" in the light of the crisis that has hit it and the stereotypes it has created among some. Finally, Albania is presented as a tourist development laboratory. (PBo)