On changing the names of 3,500 Macedonian businesses and more
Here’s an interesting interview with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on “Good Morning Greece,” on June 19, 2018, two days after the signing of the Zaev/Tsipras agreement in which he reveals quite a few gems of revealing information. First, and this is really not too much of a surprise, he acknowledges that the Zaev government was in a hurry to get Macedonia into the EU and NATO stating “Yes, they want to join NATO and the European Union and they were in a hurry.” But there’s an interesting point in his interview. He basically states that if Greece had not concluded this agreement now, that Macedonia would have pressed NATO for membership under the UN provisional reference, that Greece would have again used its veto, that Macedonia then would have gone back to the ICJ, that the ICJ would have ruled in favor of Macedonia — again — and that, under the rules of the UN, Macedonia would have reapplied under its constitutional name, something Dr. Igor Janev has argued for and urged before. You can read his reasoning, here.
Then we come to that pesky issue of “irredentism” that Greece has long accused Macedonia — and the Macedonians — of pursuing. Kotzias says, at several points along the interview, the following: “…the irredentism, along with a number of other issues, is being stopped officially and bindingly” and “Zaev’s weapon in persuading his people to accept the change in his country’s name, to accept that this people had irredentism and no one else. To accept that their Constitution will change.” Wow. Read some of that again “…this this people had irredentism and no one else.”
Next we come to an important part of the agreement for businesses and private entities. Kotzias states that the agreement is “a type of Law whose violation entails serious consequences for your economy and your society.” So, we have the economic blackmail, something the Greeks are very good at. Then, Kotzias goes to the heart of the matter, Macedonian private businesses, stating “we shall set up a joint Commission, the European Union –we are in the European Union, not them — and the UN, which shall check the names for 3,500 companies first…Those 3,500 companies will seek to resolve their own name issue. How will they resolve it? On the basis of Articles 7 and 8. What do those say? That they have no claim on Greek history and Antiquity. It is important to explain to the people that, for the first time, an agreement between Greece and Skopje provides for an end to irredentism, definitively and irreversibly separates ancient Greek culture, Greek culture, our journey in Macedonia….”
Do you understand what this means? They already have a list of 3,500 companies — private businesses — that they, the Greeks, will be looking at, presumably because they have the word “Macedonia” in their name or a form of it. And the Greeks will demand that the businesses “seek to resolve their own name issue.” What does that mean? My understanding is that the Greeks will demand a name change of these private businesses — or else Macedonia will be in violation of the agreement which “entails serious consequences for your economy and your society.”
Right now businesses in Macedonia should be demanding answers from the Government — what does this mean? Will we be forced to change our business names? If we are forced to change our business names, will we be forced to change our materials, documents, signage, web domains and pages — literally everything? How much time will we have and will the government pay for this? And one more: How could you, the government of Macedonia, negotiate what we, private business entities, call ourselves? This is going to create confusion, chaos, and a great deal of anger. Another question will be: will the Macedonian government, together with its new Greek friends, demand that Macedonian Diaspora groups around the world change their names? You know, to foster “good neighborly relations.”
Here’s a sign of things to come in this interesting column from Dr. Athanasios Grammenos, a political scientist at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki. Writing in Greek newspaper Kathimerini on June 19, 2018, he states “Of course, critics question the implementation of the accord, especially when it comes to issues of historical and cultural heritage. The answer here can be that carrying through an agreement is not only the responsibility of official agents but also of civil society and ordinary citizens. Up to now it has been a common practice for Greek groups, marketers, students and simple travelers abroad to silently accept the use of FYROM’s constitutional name in international fora. From today there is a new name that comes with certain preconditions holding all interested parties responsible for enforcing them” [italics mine].
Combine this — which is a widespread view in Greece — with the minister’s interview from above as it relates to private businesses. The Greek government and Greek society will be demanding that the Macedonian government as well as all of the rest of Macedonian society essentially police itself and all of society to make sure that everyone — from government officials all the way down — are in compliance with the extreme restrictions in this agreement. And that is Orwellian.
