Skopje, 12 April 2023 (MIA) –  North Macedonia has lost 15 years, in joining NATO, due to its southern neighbor. That is the geopolitics of the name, and now they’re risking losing time with another neighbor, Bulgaria. I hope the country finds enough wisdom, pragmatism and foresight to reach the decisions that match the national interest. It is in your interest to consolidate the typically Macedonian civic model of multiethnic society and add another dimension of belonging – EU membership - to it, French geographer and diplomat Michel Foucher, who visited North Macedonia at the invitation of the French Institute in order to promote his new book, said in an interview with MIA.

Michel Foucher is a geopolitical specialist, especially on the topic of "borders". In about 60 publications, he explains global geopolitical issues, applying an innovative method that combines different levels of analytics and time period. He was the French Ambassador to Latvia (2002-2006), advisor to the French FM (1997-2002), chief of the policy planning HQ (1999-2002) and special representative for the Balkans and Caucus (1999), as well as ambassador for European Affairs.

Asked to comment regarding the support for EU membership, which has fallen drastically in the country, especially after the French proposal and the adoption of the negotiation framework that requires new concessions from the state, namely the constitutional amendments, Foucher says it is a technical issue.

“Only two or three minorities are missing from your Constitution – Montenegrins, Bulgarians and Croats. There’s 3,500 Bulgarians. I don’t see this as a risk or threat. My opinion on the amendments is that they are a technical issue, which could become a huge political problem. It’s a technical issue because the Constitution already includes minorities in it. Once the amendments enter the Constitution, you automatically start phase 2 of negotiations. It’s in the national interest for this issue to be resolved as soon as possible. I am not Macedonian, this is just friendly advice,” Foucher said. 

Foucher said that progress does not depend on Brussels, only the reform stagnation of candidate countries. He believes the new methodology is favorable to candidate countries because it can measure their progress, step by step, but that the EU also needs internal reforms.

“This especially applies to unanimous decisions, fiscal issues, foreign policy and defense, which are priorities for the majority of European countries. If we do away with unanimous decisions in terms of foreign policy, the Bulgarian veto wouldn’t have been a problem. We need to reform the EU decision-making process. We need to make enlargement faster, but candidate countries should display true reforms,” Foucher said.

Below is the full interview with Michel Foucher.

Why were you so inspired by the phenomenon of borders, and why did you decide to dedicate so much attention to it?

Borders are very important in geopolitics, because they are arbitrary. In a single moment, a line is drawn on a certain space. It tends to follow a conflict or a mutual agreement, or in your case, the SFRY succession and the creation of new countries. In the 80s, I worked as a researcher on the topic of borders and I got in touch with President François Mitterrand’s team, which helped me get involved in applied geopolitics, which is a concrete topic for me. I predicted this in 1985-1986 and that’s why I came to the Balkans often. I came to Skopje in 1994 for the first time, and then in 1999 as a diplomat.

You claim in one of your books that the world needs borders to survive.

There are two concepts in political geography – free circulation, free movement of the population, people and goods, the phenomenon of populating a certain area, and the second concept is closedness, which emphasizes “this is my home, my homeland, I have a door to it that I can open and close”. Similarly to this, we have borders, doors, which can open or close depending on the quality of relations. This concept of borders is related to iconography, which forms the image that a nation creates for itself. For instance, Skopje is full of horse statues, France is full of monuments of Napoleon, Louis XIV etc. Iconography closes in on itself, it’s part of the nation.

In terms of Europe, you say that borders aren’t a matter of geography, but of geopolitics. Can you explain this, with regard to the current geopolitical context, the war in Ukraine and the EU enlargement policy, and can we discuss a European identity?

This question takes time to answer. The European continent is the only one in the world where we’ve kept creating borders after 1989 and 1991. We can mention the Velvet Divorce from the Velvet Revolution, or the other way around, the war in Ukraine, which is also a border war and is much more serious. There is also the tragic case that is very well known in Skopje, whether administrative borders in SFRY should be binding international borders in creating new countries. If we look back 30 years and compare, we have 18000 km of new additional borders. The history of Europe is a history of creating countries and nations that emancipate themselves from empires.

Take Ukraine for example. We can say that the Ukrainian nation is emancipating itself and suffering a great deal of pain. However, in today’s world, a country smaller or larger than France, can’t survive on its own. I would speak of the EU as a geopolitical project in which states get emancipated on the one hand and immediately want to become a part of a bigger whole. That is also your story, you gained sovereignty and territorial integrity, and at the same time, you become part of a bigger whole – NATO, and then the EU.

Another problematic aspect is EU enlargement, which entails border expansion. Borders are an aspect of the Ukrainian conflict, and it remains to be seen where the borders of the enlarged EU will be in the future with regard to Russia.

In terms of enlargement, the EU tasked itself to continue this process as one of its best foreign policy tools, as a peace project. North Macedonia is a special case. Is the EU ready for new enlargement and what kind of scenarios are possible in terms of the Balkans, specifically southeastern Europe, keeping in mind the economic and energy crisis, the post-Covid period and the Russian aggression against Ukraine?

 North Macedonia is part of this space of peace, without a doubt, but there is disarray with some of your neighbors because of the weight of the past of this part of Europe. The transition from empire to nation was complicated. North Macedonia has lost 15 years in NATO accession due to its southern neighbor. That is the geopolitics of the name, and now they’re risking losing time with Bulgaria. I hope this country finds enough wisdom, pragmatism and foresight to reach the decisions that match the national interest. It is in your interest to consolidate the typically Macedonian civic model of multiethnic society and add another dimension of belonging – EU membership - to it. I am French, my father warred against the Germans, but I am also European and I don’t think the two identities clash.

EU membership support has drastically dropped in North Macedonia, especially following the French Proposal and the adoption of the negotiating framework demanding new concessions – constitutional amendments. By inserting the Bulgarian demands into the negotiating framework, they become European.

First, it is not a French proposal. It’s the proposal of France as country holding the EU Presidency in June 2022. Furthermore, we were backed by Germany. I don’t know the details, but President Macron unblocked the accession process in exchange for constitutional amendments. Only two or three minorities are missing from your Constitution – Montenegrins, Bulgarians and Croats. There’s 3500 Bulgarians. I don’t see this as a risk or threat. My opinion on the amendments is that they are a technical issue, which could become a huge political problem. It’s a technical problem because the Constitution already has minorities in it. Once these amendments enter the Constitution, you automatically start phase 2 of negotiations. It’s in the national interest for this issue to be resolved as soon as possible. I am not Macedonian, this is just friendly advice.

On the other hand, it begs the question whether the EU is ready for a new enlargement, given the last one was in 2013 with Croatia. No progress in terms of enlargement, or other candidate countries?

Progress does not depend on us, only the reform stagnation of candidate countries.

But the new methodology was an ad hoc proposal by France.

The new methodology is favorable to candidate countries because it can measure their progress, step by step, but that the EU also needs internal reforms. This especially applies to unanimous decisions, fiscal issues, foreign policy and defense, which are priorities for the majority of European countries. If we do away with unanimous decisions in terms of foreign policy, the Bulgarian veto wouldn’t have been a problem. We need to reform the EU decision-making process. We need to make enlargement faster, but candidate countries should display true reforms.

We are witnessing the 4^th industrial revolution that is changing how we live, work and stay connected. How much will the digital transformation of society affect the redefinition of the concept of borders, and are there new borders on the horizon?

I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer, but I attended a seminar organized by FON University around digitization issues. Your Deputy PM for Good Governance said that North Macedonia could become a cyber-security hub. Another participant said that new information and internet technology can open new doors for small countries. Estonia, a very small country, is the most advanced one in terms of cyber-security in the EU. Your country should find segments to be successful in.

You promoted your latest work titled Atlas des Mondes Francophones (2020), which earned you the French Language and Literature in 2021. How influential do you think Francophonie is today?

This morning, I went to Kumanovo and they told me that there is interest in studying the French language. The new generations primarily speak English because it is the language of globalization. It is predominantly spoken on the internet, but we are not just talking about the internet – there is thought, consideration, culture, and I think French can contribute. On the plane here, I was reading books by Luan Starova, a writer in Albanian and Macedonian, also an ambassador of Macedonia to France. Page 208 of his work titled My Father’s Books, he said “He learned French like any other self-taught man from the Balkans with self-respect”.

Violeta Gerov

Translated by: Dragana Knezhevikj

Photo: Frosina Naskovikj