The information that Macedonia was elected as a member of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) for the period from 2027 to 2029 did not go unnoticed. Many probably did not even know what this body was, but as soon as it is within the UN, it is certainly important. However, for the next three years our diplomats will be sitting at one of the key tables in New York where global policies are being made and decisions will be made that will affect many. Second thing, undoubtedly this is a great success of diplomacy, which managed to lobby for us to get this seat, just like we got the deputy seat in NATO. In other words, this is proof that many battles can be won with active diplomacy, and thus the gray of the state becomes filled with higher achievements interesting for those who plan to invest here in the future. However, the most important question now is how to turn this position into a concrete benefit for the state, that is, to turn water to our mill. Someone will immediately say that ECOSOC is a global body and we cannot just push our agenda, but no matter how true that is, there are always discussions far from the public eye, in the sidelines, in some kind of mutual agreements, negotiations, alliances… For a small country like ours, multilateral diplomacy is the only place where our voice weighs as much as the big powers.
Although ECOSOC does not on paper settle anyone’s political or territorial disputes, this body oversees all UN human and social rights commissions. It is here that space is opened for the so-called “quiet diplomacy”, where the real deals are made on the sidelines, away from the cameras. As a full member with the right to vote, Macedonia gains enormous credibility to lobby for its own identity, so why not for the constitutional name. In this current fragile world, when all agreements, rules are collapsing, when international law is multiplied by zero, why in some future constellation of world events should we not ask the UN to correct the injustice with the imposed name and allow the countries that previously recognized us under the constitutional name to use it freely in bilateral relations? Why should this issue not be opened at a session of the UN General Assembly, where it is decided by a simple majority? Again, someone will say the name is a done deal and I will agree, but it is done for now, nobody can know what will happen tomorrow. Well, in the Ottoman Empire at one time the name Macedonia was not mentioned, but the Ottomans named the entire wider area as Rumelia, then things changed again, and Macedonia returned. Simply put, you cannot erase what is part of the Macedonian genome with some kind of agreement.
To return to our ECOSOC membership. Through the UN mechanisms and experts that refer to this body, our diplomacy gets a direct field to update the issue of the systemic violation of human rights of the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria. This is a chance for official Sofia to press for the implementation of the judgments from Strasbourg. We need to be ready to use the tools that someone else is constantly using against us. Namely, in the UN, votes are the most expensive currency. The big powers are constantly looking for support for their resolutions, and Macedonia, instead of simply raising two fingers without anything in return, can now bargain: “we will support you if you support our national interests”. It’s just that this world is based on interests, not so much on friendships, and so we should act like that too.
From this membership we can also benefit from an economic aspect, considering the fact that it offers us a direct view into global financial flows. Instead of constantly waiting for some kind of donations, funds and help from the outside, now we can dictate the priorities ourselves. We see that green energy capacities are springing up on every corner, which the EU will obviously demand from us. The UN has funds through which we can attract money for solar and wind plants, which we urgently need due to the reduction of coal and EU standards. Here at the start we will mark this European chapter as completed.
In addition, the seat in ECOSOC is a kind of “seal of stability” in front of the World Bank and the IMF. It reduces the investment risk and opens doors for easier access to new funds, especially important for the construction of modern infrastructure that will further strengthen the Macedonian economy. We can lobby for serious grants for technological development, with which Macedonia would position itself as a regional IT-hub, as a base of AI-centers, and in that way we can also keep young people in the country so that they will have good incomes.
But what is most important, we will feel the real effect of our ECOSOC membership at home only if our ministries do their homework. Participation in such a high body will force our institutions to prepare serious, professional analyzes and harmonize domestic laws with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This international pressure is an excellent tool to reform the judiciary, the administration and the social system, which is certainly a requirement for European integration, that is, it is the key cluster – the rule of law.
Macedonian diplomacy already has experience in such bodies and has shown that it knows how to swim in international waters. Now the room for maneuver is even greater. In the end, the place in ECOSOC must not be understood as an opportunity for a luxury trip for Oilers-Doyles to take pictures and post their profiles on social networks, but as an office with working hours of 24 hours, which will not close after the expiration of the mandate in two years, but will become a permanent base for intensive diplomatic activities. This is a golden chance to prove that we are not just silent observers but a country that knows how to fight for itself. The question is no longer what the UN can do for us, but how willing and able we are to make use of what is served on the table.
