Less than a year ago you reported that Nikola Gruevski, the prime minister of Macedonia, had been planning to plop a giant statue of Alexander the Great in the center of the capital, Skopje (“A Macedonian Makeover,” August 28, 2010). Now you report that the statue is actually being erected on site (“Backwards and Forwards,” June 18, 2011). Cast in Italy, it is far from a joke, as some have hoped. And it is likely to have helped Gruevski in general elections earlier this month. But the European Union officials are in despair over such populist gestures on account of Greece’s persistent if petulant objections over Macedonia’s name, let alone the insolent claim to a glorious bit of its history. The problem is that Greece is in the Union already, and that Macedonia’s accession process has been stalled. Gruevski’s fresh attempts to restart it are thus in question in spite of the fact that Macedonia cannot but join the Union sooner or later. The only thing one can offer the bewildered Union officials by way of advice is a straightforward proposition: give Macedonians green accession light in return for the statue’s speedy removal. Simple. Quintessential Balkans, too.