The EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini surprised many in the pressroom today, when she called Macedonia the country that calls itself Macedonia.
The issue is that the Republic of Macedonia, which declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, is called by EU officials “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, because Greece objects to the shorter “Macedonia” or “Republic of Macedonia”, which is the country’s constitutional name.
A majority of EU countries recognise Macedonia under its constitutional name, but then again, some don’t.
Did Mogherini made a mistake or is she the iconoclast the EU needs? She was after all already the first to say that in the context of the Ukraine crisis, Russia should no longer be called the EU “strategic partner”.
But what will the reaction of the new Greek government be? Will they be more relaxed that the previous Hellenic establishment? Or probably not?
