Meet a new country: “Northern Macedonia”

ALEXANDER THE GREAT conquered the ancient world in far less time than it took the two countries that claim his mantle to agree on a name for one of them. But better late than never. On June 12th Greece and its northern neighbour announced a breakthrough. After nearly 30 years of tussling, they decided that the Republic of Macedonia should henceforth style itself “North Macedonia”, a formula implying that neither state has a monopoly on the historical legacy of the region. As a sign of goodwill, Macedonia had already removed a statue that looked rather like Alexander from its airport.

Ever since communist Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, Greece had lobbied to stop the new country from using a name to which it claims cultural title (it has a province called Macedonia, for instance). America praised Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, for showing “vision, courage and persistence” in their efforts.

On the face of things, the deal will enable Macedonia swiftly to join the European Union and NATO, where its progress has been blocked by Greece. That will relieve Western governments, which in 2001 only just stemmed Macedonia’s slide into a civil war between its ethnic majority, whose language is close to Bulgarian, and a large ethnic-Albanian minority. To many observers of the region, keeping the country stable and avoiding any revival of its internal tensions matter much more than its name.

Yet among both electorates the deal may struggle to win acceptance. It was denounced by Independent Greeks (ANEL), the nationalist party whose nine parliamentary votes prop up Mr Tsipras’s leftists; and by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of New Democracy, Greece’s main opposition. Mr Mitsotakis, whose father’s term as prime minister foundered after he talked reason on Macedonia, seems keen to avoid a similar fate. He rejects the new formula on the grounds that it still lets the neighbours assert a Macedonian language and ethnicity.

For protesters in Greece, any sharing of the M-word is treachery. In Macedonia, meanwhile, the new name must be put to a referendum. Constitutional changes also need a two-thirds majority in parliament, which Mr Zaev does not have. The country’s president, Gjorge Ivanov, reacted icily when told of the deal. A stormy election campaign may result. As Alexander once put it: “How great are the dangers I face to win a good name.”