FRENCH RESPONSE ON MACEDONIA'S NATO ASPIRATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000267 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2018 TAGS: NATO MARR PREL GR MK FR SUBJECT: FRENCH RESPONSE ON MACEDONIA'S NATO ASPIRATIONS AND NAME DISPUTE WITH GREECE REF: STATE 14821 Classified By: Political Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) We delivered reftel demarche discussing Macedonia's NATO candidacy and the name dispute with Greece to Philippe Carre, Director of the Strategic Affairs bureau at the MFA (A/S equivalent). Carre said that France had been worried that Macedonia was treating the name dispute with Greece too lightly, hoping that U.S. support would be sufficient to ensure their NATO candidacy for membership. The GOF is not willing to put pressure on Greece to accept a compromise solution "at any cost," although they will encourage both states to find a solution. Carre noted that the issue is complicated because ratification of the NATO enlargement will be presented to Greece's parliament and this has not been helped by some of Macedonia's recent "bad decisions" such as the naming of the Skopje airport after Alexander the Great. The GOF is prepared to accept either one, two or three candidates (referring to the Adriatic 3) as new NATO members, although they feel that the Albanian case is the weakest one. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm PEKALA