A test of endurance for Macedonia

Two weeks after the NATO summit in Bucharest at which Macedonia's accession to the military alliance was postponed owing to its name dispute with Greece, the Macedonian government under Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has resigned. The country is facing a test of endurance, Michael Martens reports: "The collapse of the coalition in Skopje is above all a strategic game played by the ruling parties. But it also shows how fragile the agreement signed between Albanian and Slavic Macedonians in August 2001 under pressure from the EU and Washington is. ... This most recent crisis [should] remind us of three things: firstly, there is no other country in the Balkans whose future depends more on developments in Kosovo than Macedonia. Secondly, its unity will be threatened if Greece decides to thwart its efforts to join the EU after having thwarted its NATO ambitions. And thirdly, this would be bad for the entire region."

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