A Suggested Solution to The Quarrel between Greece And Slavonic Macedonia.

The dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the official name of the latter state recently disrupted the meeting of NATO at which the admission of new states into the Alliance was being considered. The application for Macedonia was found to be wholly in order , apart from the Greek objection. It appears that the Greek Government persists in referring to "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," (FYROM). There is said to be some fear on the part of the Greeks, that the comparatively small former part of Federal Yugoslavia has territorial designs on the Greek province of Macedonia, a belief which seems unrealistic. A very simple solution would appear to be to call the new state Serb Macedonia; after all the inhabitants comprise c.1.4 million Serbs and c.700,000 Muslims and virtually no Greeks. It is hard to see any serious objection to that proposed appellation and accordingly the admission of the Serb Macedonia should be allowed forthwith.

Michael B. Buck.