The Director of U.S. National Intelligence, James Clapper, stated that despite the positive developments in Western Balkans in 2013, the region will continue to be characterized by deep ethnic and political divisions this year. Clapper made these comments in front of the special Senate for Intelligence Issues. He said that the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that in Macedonia, are especially unsustainable, due to ethnic divisions.
Clapper said that the Government of Macedonia continues to push programs geared to promote ethnic Macedonian nationalism at the expense of the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration. The longer that Macedonia’s EU and NATO membership paths remain stalled over country’s constitutional name dispute with Greece and poor bilateral relations with Bulgaria, the greater the risk that ethnic tensions will increase.
