North Macedonia: gains, losses, and a precedent

After a quarter of a century marked by acerbity, confrontation and occasional insults, Athens and Skopje have reached a compromise. It is painful for both sides.

We all knew that any accord to emerge from the name talks would entail concessions. Otherwise, we would have reached a deal a lot earlier. That is the nature of compromise. Now it is up to each of us to decide whether we choose to see the glass as half-full or half-empty.

The deal has both positive and negative aspects. A composite name with a geographical qualifier for universal use - if this is indeed the case remains to be clarified - has been Greece's official position for the past decade, ever since New Democracy's Costas Karamanlis was prime minister and Dora Bakoyannis his foreign affairs chief.

It was the position that allowed Greece to score a win at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest. If...