The case Macedonia vs Greece is simple and clear example of pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept).

The accused party has opposed to Macedonia's NATO membership, citing reasons that are not allowed under the Interim Accord.

The accused party has been trying to make the case a complex one, presenting a series of irrelevant or incorrect claims that have not been mentioned before 2008. It seems that the arguments of the accused party aim to cover the explicit violation of the explicit obligation that derives form the Interim Accord.

These is part of the address of Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki at a public hearing on Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague on Macedonia's suit against Greece for violating the 1995 bilateral Interim Accord by objecting to Macedonia’s application to join NATO.

Speaking about Macedonia's development for the last 20 years since its independence, Milososki said that country had always been part of resolutions, not of problems in the region.

This motion has been filed for Greece to realize that it must respect one of its key obligations of the 1995 Accord - no less, no more, Milososki said, elaborating that the the subject of Macedonia's suit is the violation of the Article 11 of the document prior to and during the 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest.

The accused party objected to Macedonia's NATO membership, although 'it has been clear that the country would have been referred to as 'former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' for some period, Milososki said.

As a matter of fact, under this reference Macedonia has been contributing to NATO efforts in Afghanistan since 2002, while the accused party in the meantime resumed its old practice, the one it had been applying before 1995, putting an end in this manner to Macedonia's possibility to join the international organizations of which Greece is a member.

"We are sincerely sorry for this attitude of the accused party and hope for the Court to help the both parties to return to the frames of the system, established by the Interim Accord. It will enable us to resume our activities for joining NATO and the European Union - a goal we have been committed to since 1993 and one that is rather important for the internal stability of Macedonia's multi-ethnic, democratic society," Milososki said.

Greece, he said, quotes few key arguments against the suit, namely that the Republic of Macedonia should not use its constitutional name in international organizations, that the interim reference is 'interim name' of the country, that Macedonian side is the one that has violated the Interim Accord.

It was not easy to decide on filing the motion to the Court, but we had no choice, Milososki said.

"We ask for the Court to order to the accused party to meet its obligations that derive from this extremely significant bilateral instrument," Milososki said.

The team, representing Macedonia before the ICJ, also includes four law professors from London, Washington, Brussels and Sorbonne, as well as two professors from the Skopje-based Faculty of Law.

The presentation of Macedonia's arguments before the ICJ resumes tomorrow.

On 17 November 2008, the Republic of Macedonia instituted proceedings against Greece for a flagrant violation of Greece's obligations under Article 11 of the Interim Accord signed by the Parties on 13 September 1995. The Republic of Macedonia requests the Court to order Greece to take all necessary steps to comply with its obligations under Article 11, paragraph 1.