THE BALKANS IN THE NEW MILLENIA

REWRITING HISTORY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR HAVING A GOOD NEIGHBOUR

Abstract

Macedonia gained its independence at the beginning of the last decade of 20th century.
Not only in the Balkans, but also in Europe, the 90’s began with a great sense of optimism. After
gaining its independence, the next important goal for the new state was gaining international
recognition, for which Republic of Macedonia demonstrated readiness to accept the conditions
given by the international community. However, the European Community was either not ready
or lacked the will to recognize the new state a priori. In the meantime, Macedonia was steadily
building good relations with its neighbors. Based on these facts, the goal of this paper is to
analyze the bilateral relations between Republic of Macedonia and the neighboring countries in
the new millennia.