Athens, Skopje trade accusations over deadlocked name talks

26/08/2008

Talks on the long-running name dispute between Greece and Macedonia appear set to drag on, as the process remains deadlocked and the prospects for a solution slim.

(ANA-MPA, Kathimerini - 26/08/08; MIA, Dnevnik, ANA-MPA, B92, Focus News Agency, Kathimerini, ERT - 25/08/08; ANA-MPA, ERT - 24/08/08; Kathimerini, ERT - 23/08/08; Makfax - 22/08/08; AP, MIA, Makfax - 21/08/08; UN News Centre - 19/08/08)

The UN mediator in the name dispute between Macedonia and Greece, Matthew Nimetz, speaks at a press conference in Skopje last week. [Getty Images]

Greece indicated on Tuesday (August 26th) that it will continue to block Macedonia's accession to the EU and NATO until the two countries reach a mutually acceptable solution to their 17-year-long dispute over Macedonia's name.

"There can be no European or Euro-Atlantic course without prior resolution of the name issue, which is the basis of good neighbourly relations," Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said in an interview with a private TV station.

But the signals coming from the two bickering capitals following UN envoy Matthew Nimetz's trip to the region last week indicate that prospects for a quick solution are as distant as ever.

Three days after the US diplomat's visit to Skopje, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Sunday he had rejected Nimetz's proposal for a compromise.

One of the ideas Nimetz presented on Thursday "was the use of one name internationally", Gruevski told reporters. "That is unacceptable for us, and there we stopped."

Gruevski added he had instead urged Nimetz to propose a double formula to Athens, under which Macedonia would use "Republic of Macedonia" internationally and a special name bilaterally with Greece.

His remarks reportedly raised eyebrows at Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski's office.

"We are surprised to hear Gruevski talking about this," the Macedonian daily Dnevnik quoted an unnamed cabinet official as saying Monday. "Macedonia officially abandoned the double formula prior to the NATO summit in April and went there with the proposal 'Republic of Macedonia (Skopje)'", to which Gruevski agreed.

The ideas Nimetz discussed with Gruevski reportedly included the names "Northern Macedonia" and "Upper Macedonia". Nimetz would neither deny nor confirm the reports.

Athens repeatedly stresses, however, that the only solution it will accept is a single name with a geographical determinant that Macedonia must use in all instances.

Asked to evaluate the name "Northern Macedonia", which Nimetz reportedly suggested last week, Bakoyannis said on Tuesday only that it does constitute a geographical determinant.

In his remarks at the weekend, Gruevski accused Athens of deliberately stalling the UN-sponsored negotiation process for domestic political benefit.

"Greece has deep and serious problems," the Greek daily Kathimerini quoted him as saying. "A serious scandal breaks out almost every two weeks. .... [The government] is structuring its policy ... to avoid finding a solution."

That drew a sharp reaction from both Bakoyannis and the main Greek opposition party, PASOK, whose spokesman, George Papaconstantinou, said Macedonia obviously has no intention of helping solve the name dispute.

"The exclusive blame for non-advancement of that country's European and Euro-Atlantic course lies with Gruevski, not with Greece," Bakoyannis said on Tuesday.