MACEDONIA FILES NATO MEMBERSHIP CASE AT INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Skopje, 17 November 2008 year

Today, 17 November 2008, the Republic of Macedonia has filed legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Greece. Macedonia has filed an Application with the Registrar of the Court to bring Greece into compliance with its legal obligations under the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995, which binds the two countries. Article 11 of the 1995 Accord obliges Greece not to object to Macedonia’s application to join NATO. At the NATO Summit held in Bucharest in April 2008, however, Greece objected to extending an invitation to Macedonia to join NATO, in flagrant violation of its obligations under the Interim Accord.

Explaining the reasons for bringing the case, the first time that Macedonia will appear before the Court, Mr. Antonio Milososki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia and its Agent in the case before the Court, said:

“We have lodged the Application with the International Court of Justice for the sole purpose of protecting our rights under the Interim Accord. We have thought very carefully before bringing this case, but see no other way for justice to be done and our rights to be protected. We hope this action might encourage Greece to bring its actions into compliance with its international legal obligations, and that it might also encourage our two countries to reach a final settlement on outstanding issues in the spirit of good-neighbourliness and cooperation envisaged by the Interim Accord.”

Mr. Milososki also said:

“We have strong confidence in the International Court of Justice to help us resolve this discrete legal dispute, noting that the Court functions fairly and efficiently and can also act speedily. We are not asking the Court to deal with other political issues, so that the dispute over the name is not the subject matter of our Application. We also want to stress that we remain strongly committed to all aspects of the Interim Accord, in particular to the process of negotiations with Greece, mediated by the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General.”

The Application requests the International Court of Justice:

“(a) to adjudge and declare that [Greece], through its State organs and agents, has violated its obligations under Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Interim Accord;

(b) to order that [Greece] immediately take all necessary steps to comply with its obligations under Article 11, paragraph 1 of the Interim Accord, and to cease and desist from objecting in any way, whether directly or indirectly, to [Macedonia’s]  membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and/or of any other “international, multilateral and regional organizations and institutions” of which [Greece] is a member, in circumstances where [Macedonia] is to be referred to in such organizations or institutions by the designation provided for in paragraph 2 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 817 (1993).”