The Republic of Macedonia is well prepared for the public hearing that starts Monday (21 March) before the International Court of Justice in the Hague regarding the lawsuit against the Republic of Greece over the violation of the interim Accord both countries signed in 1995, says the team representing Macedonia.
In the application that Macedonia submitted in November 2008, it is requested of the Court to determine that at the NATO Summit in Bucharest in April 2008 Greece breached Article 11 of the Interim Accord by not allowing for Macedonia to be extended an invitation to join NATO under the provisional reference of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Court is requested to impose on Greece to honor all its responsibilities arising from Article 11.
Diplomatic sources say that this case should not be brought into connection with the political talks over the name issue conducted under UN auspices. The same sources emphasize that NATO is not a party in the lawsuit and that Macedonia is not requesting with its application that any actions should be imposed on the Alliance and that it is only requested that Greece’s conduct before and during the Summit be reexamined.
It is also explained in the application that in the conclusion of the NATO Summit in Bucharest it is said that Macedonia met all criteria for membership of the Alliance but that consent was not given because one member state cited the name issue as an obstacle.
The verdict will be binding. The Macedonian agents stress that the most important thing is to present before the Court Macedonia’s arguments and all facts based on which a just verdict is expected to be reached.
With consent from both parties, the oral hearing, which is the second stage of the court proceedings, will be open to the public. The Macedonian team requested that in the course of the process Macedonian be referred to as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and not just FYROM, which is in adherence with Resolution 817 of the UN Security Council.
The Court that will decide on Macedonia’s application is comprised of 15 judges from across the world and there are no judges from either Macedonia or Greece. Both parties have each appointed an ad-hoc judge. Macedonia will be represented by Budislav Vukas, a judge from Croatia.
The public hearing will take place on 21-30 March and according to the agenda posted on the Court’s website it will be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, on 21 and 22 March, Macedonia is going to present its arguments to the judges and on 24 and 25 march the Greek agents will present their counter-arguments. In the second stage, on 28 March the team representing Macedonia will have a chance to orally respond to the Greece’s defense and the hearing will end on 30 March with the oral response from the Greek team.
