Echoing a verse in the North Macedonian national anthem, the forests are singing over the Balkan nation's impending entry into the European Union. And pharmaceutical companies are singing over improved access to North Macedonian opium.
Opium is important enough to North Macedonia that the fruit of the opium poppy is depicted on the country's emblem. Introduced by Turkish invaders in the early 1800s, the plant thrived in local soil and became a substantial national resource. Its consistent value amid extreme currency fluctuations has made opium North Macedonia's gold standard, hoarded by farmers as a sort of savings account. They don't abuse it, however; the national addiction rate has remained low.
Compromise has smoothed the road to North Macedonia's E.U. membership. Previously called the Republic of Macedonia and then the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the country recently floated the name the Republic of North Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia had desired to emphasize its dubious connection to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian conqueror whose home territory actually encompassed, for the most part, the adjacent Greek province of Macedonia. Christian Greece, wishing to retain title to Alexander's ancient glory, had vetoed measures that would have brought Slavic/Muslim Macedonia into the E.U. The addition of "North" satisfied all but North Macedonia's most radical Alexander boosters, who boycotted the name-change referendum and forced the decision to a parliamentary vote that appears headed for approval.
Russia has been accused of inflaming the controversy over North Macedonia's name to hinder the nation's alliance with the West. E.U. inclusion will also increase Western influence over North Macedonia's poppies, raising memories of Russia's lost control over the 1980s opium trade in Afghanistan, largely thanks to the USA's secret intervention. (The 2007 Mike Nichols/Tom Hanks movie "Charlie Wilson's War," hilariously scripted by Aaron Sorkin, is recommended for semifactual background.)
Listen to the stately Macedonian national anthem, which expresses a high regard for freedom -- and for the sun, life giver to all plants: