[ALBSA-Info] Macedonia, Greece Seek to Resolve Name Row

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Macedonia, Greece Seek to Resolve Name Row

  
SKOPJE, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Macedonia and Greece are in intense talks to 
resolve a long-running dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic 
that has blocked cooperation for almost 10 years, officials said on Thursday. 

"We have agreed that a solution pleasing both sides should be finally reached 
so we can speed up bilateral cooperation," a Macedonian government spokesman 
told Reuters. He did not elaborate. 

The Macedonian daily Dnevnik quoted a high government official on Thursday as 
saying Greece had quietly offered a compromise -- that Skopje takes the name 
of Northern Macedonia in return for economic aid, abolition of visas for 
Macedonian citizens and strong support for faster EU integration. 

The government spokesman declined to comment on the report, but a government 
source told Reuters the proposal had been made. 

"It's real. It hasn't been proposed officially to the government but was made 
through mediators, in order to check Macedonia's readiness to negotiate," the 
source, who refused to be named, said. "The proposal is not final and could 
be changed." 

In Athens, the Greek Foreign Ministry said the two countries had not yet 
reached an agreement. 

"As part of the talks at the United Nations, there has been a wide spectrum 
of names that have been mentioned, but nothing has been agreed upon," a 
ministry spokesman said. 

Since Macedonia broke away from former Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece has 
objected to its use of the name Macedonia, which is also the name of Greece's 
northern region. 

In 1992 Macedonia agreed to join the United Nations under the name of Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and it is often referred to as FYROM. 

Greece, dissatisfied, imposed an economic embargo on Macedonia, but lifted it 
in 1995 after the two reached an interim accord on normalisation of 
relations. 

Talks have since continued through special U.N. mediator Matthew Nimetz, who 
visited Macedonia last month.