Symbolic identities: Understanding the Macedonia name dispute and its implications for EU politics

Efforts to end the Macedonia name dispute suffered a blow on 30 September when a referendum proposing to change the country’s name to ‘North Macedonia’ failed to reach the required 50 per cent threshold. However, the country’s Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, later won a vote in parliament on the issue on 19 October. Charalambos Tsekeris and Nicolas Demertzis write that it is now difficult to predict where the process will lead, but the issue gives some insight into the issues politicians encounter when attempting to reframe national identities from above.