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 Croatia |  North Macedonia |
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Croatia–North Macedonia relations are the foreign relations betweenCroatia andNorth Macedonia. The two countries established diplomatic relations on 30 March 1992.[1] Croatia is represented in North Macedonia via its embassy inSkopje and honorary consul inStrumica while North Macedonia is represented in Croatia via its embassy and the Cultural and Informational Center inZagreb as well as consulate inRijeka and honorary consul inZadar.[2][1]Croatia supports North Macedonia'sEuropean Union membership.Before their independence in early 1990s, both countries wereconstituent republics of theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as theSR Croatia andSR Macedonia respectively. Croatia was one of the first countries in the world to recognize the independence of the country during the period in which Zagreb itself awaitedinternational recognition.[3] During the long-lastingMacedonia naming dispute (1991–2019) and before the signature of thePrespa agreement Croatia was the first country in the world to recognize North Macedonia under itsconstitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia instead of appellation "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Today, both countries are full members of theCouncil of Europe, and of theNATO. Croatia is anEU member and North Macedonia is anEU candidate. Since 2006 North Macedonia is a member state of theCentral European Free Trade Agreement while Croatia was a member of the area between 2003 and 2013. Croatia strongly supportsaccession of North Macedonia to the European Union and also supported its NATO membership, being one of the first countries to ratify the membership protocol.[4][5] Trade between the two countries reached 221 millioneuros in 2020.[6]
In her 2013 analysis of Croatian relations withWestern Balkans countries Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Development and International Relations in ZagrebSenada Šelo Šabić recognized that Croatian policy towards Macedonia is based on fostering good relations.[7] Nevertheless, she also recognized insufficiencies of this approach in which in the case of any instability Zagreb would follow the official position ofBrussels institutions instead of being an well informed link between the region and the EU capable of helping Brussels decision-making in prevention of possible escalation.[7]
During the existence ofKingdom of Yugoslavia extreme nationalist and fascist Croatian organization ofUstaše and theInternal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization collaborated in their disruptive and terrorist activities, most notoriously in the case of 1934 assassination ofKing of YugoslaviaAlexander I andFrench Foreign MinisterLouis Barthou inMarseille during king'sstate visit toFrance.[8] In 26 August 1936 at theUniversity of Zagreb a group of Macedonian students belonging to theMANAPO signed the Political Declaration, an illegal document requesting political and social emancipation of Macedonians in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[9]
The independent Section forMacedonian language andliterature at the Department of South Slavic Languages of theFaculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb was established in 1967/68.[10]
Croatia joinedNATO and theEU in2009, and2013, respectively. Croatia supported North Macedonia's aspiration to join NATO, and ratified North Macedonia's accession in 2019.[11] North Macedonia joined NATO in2020 and is an EUcandidate.
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see also:Foreign relations of Yugoslavia | ||
