The land-locked country to Greece’s north, recognized by Athens since the early 1990s as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), again dominated media attention and much of the political agenda south of the border recently due to negotiations that culminated with the signing of an agreement last weekend to solve the fYRoM ‘name issue’.
However, since the breakup of the one-time Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and despite often sour official relations between Athens and Skopje over the “name issue” – as the latter insisted on using the constitutional “Republic of Macedonia” – the country emerged as a prominent destination for Greek capital, trade and cross-border shopping.
Conversely, citizens of the one-time Yugoslav constituent state regularly appear as the most prolific visitors to Greece, given the numerous border crossings on an annual basis for holidays, shopping and even quick getaways to Thessaloniki and beaches in Halkidiki and Pieria prefecture.
In a bid to transform itself into an attractive destination “in the middle of the south Balkans”, instead of “flyover” or “drive-through” territory between Greece and the rest of southeast Europe (the north-south axis), or between Bulgaria and Albania – the east-west Adriatic and Black Sea axis – successive governments in Skopje have insisted on tax low corporate rates and generous incentives for foreign direct investments.
The figure for FDIs in 2017 reached 227.5 million euros, whereas Greek investments in the country for 2016 totaled 43.75 million euros – 20 percent of the total for the specific year.
With an annual GDP of 10.1 billion euros (2017) and roughly 2.07 million residents, the country faces a severe unemployment problem, with the official rate at 22.4 percent.
fYRoM’s balance of trade, moreover, shows a deficit of 1.817 billion euros, of which a large chunk is due to an imbalance in trade with Greece. Imports to fYRoM from Greece reached 546 million euros, with exports to its southern neighbor only reaching 180 million euros.
The very close bilateral relations, the “name issue” notwithstanding, are punctuated with noteworthy statistic, namely, the volume of cross-border travel. Approximately 1.07 million entries of citizens of the neighboring country into Greece were recorded in 2017 – a number that corresponds to half of fYRoM’s population.
Overall, Greece is country’s third highest trade partner and third in terms of FDIs, with significant increases expected in the wake of the landmark and equally divisive agreement, whereby a “Republic of North Macedonia” will emerge on the global scene for all uses – pending ratification by both sides’ Parliaments.
