MACEDONIA: CHARTER FLIGHT BARRED FROM GREEK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000301 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO EAIR MK GR SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: CHARTER FLIGHT BARRED FROM GREEK AIRSPACE; OTHER BILATERAL IRRITANTS REF: ATHENS 596 SUMMARY ¶1. (SBU) On April 28, an Egypt-bound Macedonian Airlines (MAT) charter flight was denied overflight rights for Greece without any explanation. This first-ever denial of overflight rights, coupled with other irritants such as the lack of a Greek government reply to Macedonia's request to purchase a building for its consulate in Thessaloniki and the alleged harassment of Turkish exporters to Macedonia by Greek border officials, has further poisoned the atmosphere between the two neighbors (reftel). Some observers in Macedonia believe these developments suggest a de facto trade embargo by Greece, and have called for reciprocal measures. Others, who believe that an escalation will only hurt Macedonia, are calling for a calm response and are looking for ways to adjust to Greek actions. End summary. EGYPT-BOUND MACEDONIAN CHARTER PREVENTED FORM ENTERING GREEK AIRSPACE... ¶2. (SBU) On April 29, Macedonian media reported that late on April 28, a Macedonian Airlines (MAT) charter flight with 86 tourists and four flight crew bound for Egypt had been prevented from flying over Greek airspace. On April 30, MAT's Commercial Director Nicolas Kuemmerle (a Swiss national) confirmed the media reports. He said that, minutes after takeoff on April 28, the MAT pilot asked for clearance for a 15-minute overflight over Greece, which was immediately denied by a Greek air controller without any explanation. Since the pilot had followed the usual overflight procedure, he again asked for permission, and received the same negative answer. Following that, the pilot made a 180-degree turn and returned to a "holding area" in Macedonian airspace. In the meantime, MAT received clearance for the plane to overfly Bulgaria and Turkey, which allowed the flight to continue to its destination in Egypt. FIRST-EVER DENIAL OF OVERFLIGHT RIGHTS ¶3. (SBU) Kuemmerle added that the Macedonian media had confused the situation by conflating Greece's long-standing denial of MAT's repeated requests for air charter landing rights in Greece, and the first-ever denial of overflight clearance for a MAT plane. He clarified that, despite Macedonia's willingness to grant air charter landing rights to Greek airlines and Greece's obligations under the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) agreement, Athens consistently has refused to grant the same rights for Macedonian flights. ¶4. (SBU) Regarding overflight rights, MAT had never had problems overflying Greek territory until last Monday, according to Kuemmerle. He said that the April 28 Egypt-bound flight had followed the usual procedure of applying in advance for a regular flight plan that included overflight permissions for all transit countries. The whole procedure was completed through Eurocontrol in Brussels, just as had been the case for the last three years when MAT operated an average of 40 charter flights per summer to Egypt and Tunisia that required Greek overflight permission. According to Kuemmerle, MAT understood, and carried out in practice, the requirement that, while in Greek airspace and taking into account Greek sensitivities on the name issue, its flights use the call sign "MAK," rather than MAT's official international call sign, "Macedonia." ¶5. (SBU) Zaneta Stanoevska, a senior official in the Macedonian Directorate for Civil Aviation (DCA),told us April 30 that, as a rule, the DCA was not involved in the process of applying for overflight permission. She stressed, however, that Chapter II, Art. 5 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation obliges every signatory country to approve requests for overflight or landing for non-travel purposes (i.e. for refueling, security-related issues, etc.). Since both Macedonia and Greece are signatories to the Convention, Stanoevska asserted that Chapter II of the Convention allowed Greece to deny permission to the MAT flight only "in a state of emergency or war," and only if that denial was applicable to all other states. Neither condition was true at the time Greece denied the MAT SKOPJE 00000301 002 OF 002 overflight request, Stanoevska said, so Macedonia "would have the right to file a complaint against Greece" at the International Court of Justice. TURN THE OTHER CHEEK? ¶6. (SBU) Both Stanoevska and Kuemmerle said that some 70 Greek commercial flights receive overflight clearance for Macedonia daily. While Stanoevska suggested that Macedonia could impose reciprocal bans on Greek carriers, Kuemmerle said that "nothing could be gained from such an escalation," noting that a Macedonian ban would result in a daily loss of overflight fees amounting to as much as 35,000 euros. Kuemmerle said that, regarding MAT's plans for its remaining 40 summer charters to Egypt and Tunisia, the company had decided against trying to fly over Greece for the meantime. Instead, the planes would keep flying through Turkish and Bulgarian airspace, which would result in fuel-cost losses for the company of up to 6,000 euros per flight. Resigned to the fact, Kuemmerle conceded that the added expense would simply mean price hikes for MAT's Macedonian clients. ...AND OTHER IRRITANTS ¶7. (SBU) In an April 30 meeting with P/E Chief, MFA State Secretary Ilievski reported that the GOM is becoming SIPDIS increasingly frustrated over the lack of a Greek government reply to Skopje's November 2007 request to purchase a building in Thessaloniki to house the Macedonian consulate. Ilievski said similar purchases in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic had been approved by the host governments in one month or less, but that the GOM had tried repeatedly over the past six months, without success, to get Athens to reply to its request to purchase the building. As a result, the GOM planned to raise with the Greek Ambassador in Skopje the fact that the paperwork for the current Hellenic Liaison Office premises (occupied since 1976) was incomplete. The GOM would demand, on the basis of reciprocity, that Athens approve the GOM's request to purchase the consulate building in Thessaloniki, in exchange for which the Macedonian MFA would approve and finalize the paperwork for the Greek premises in Skopje. ¶8. (SBU) Ilievski also complained that Greek border authorities are forcing Turkish exporters sending goods here to alter customs documents showing "Macedonia" as the country of destination for the exports. The Greek officials directed the Turkish exporters to cross out "Macedonia" and write-in "Skopje" as the country of destination, which Ilievski claimed was a violation of international customs practices. COMMENT ¶9. (SBU) Added to the bilateral irritants noted in reftel, these recent developments will make it more difficult for Skopje to demonstrate the additional flexibility it will need to reach a solution to the name dispute with Greece anytime soon. Macedonians, fed by local media reports (including one recent unconfirmed report that Athens is now prohibiting Western Union wire transfers between Greece and Macedonia), increasingly see Greek moves as constituting an undeclared de facto trade embargo. That is likely to reduce the GOM's room for maneuver in the name talks, especially given the election campaign dynamics here as the country prepares for parliamentary elections on June 1. End comment. NAVRATIL