Serbia speaks on Macedonia name dispute – reports - South Eastern Europe

Tue, Feb 07 2012

Serbia speaks on Macedonia name dispute – reports

Thu, Nov 19 2009 11:13 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

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Serbia speaks on Macedonia name dispute – reports

Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic.

Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic has expressed understanding for Greece’s position in the dispute between Athens and Skopje about the use of the name Macedonia, media in Skopje reported.

Jeremic was speaking after a meeting on November 18 2009 with Greece’s alternate foreign minister Dimitris Droutsas, who was in the Serbian capital Belgrade at the start of a tour of Western Balkans countries, which includes stops in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania, but with no visit to Macedonia.

Serbia’s Fonet agency quoted Jeremic as saying that Serbia understood that the name issue is a delicate one.

Droutsas, in an interview with Serbian news agency Tanjug, said that his country was convinced that the European integration prospects of the Western Balkans needed a new momentum, and it was for this reason that George Papandreou, Greece’s prime minister and foreign minister, had called for a new "road map" for the countries of the region to accelerate their progress.

Droutsas said that Greece always had firmly supported Serbia’s entry into the European family and that the Papandreou government have committed themselves to doing everything in their power to help Serbia on its course towards taking its rightful place within Europe, according to Tanjug.

The Greek foreign ministry said that at his meetings during his tour, Droutsas would have the opportunity to discuss with the leaderships of the Western Balkans the Greek initiative for reinvigorating the accession roadmap of South Eastern Europe: "Agenda 2014".

"The Balkans are a top priority for Greek foreign policy, and the political objective of the European integration of the region’s countries by 2014 is both ambitious and feasible," the foreign ministry in Athens said.

"The adoption of this target date and the symbolism of its being the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 1 can function as a catalyst for the European perspective of the Western Balkans, following up the Thessaloniki strategy adopted during Greece’s 2003 EU Presidency," the ministry said.

Greek news agency ANA-MPA reported from Ljubljana on November 18 Droutsas, who was accompanying Greek president Karolos Papoulias on a visit to Slovenia, had said that the Greek government's intention was to develop contacts and relations with Skopje without distancing itself from the "red line" on the name dispute.

"It is our intention to develop our relations and contacts with Skopje ... We do not want the people of the country to hear only what their government tells them. We want to remind of the support that we provided for them in the past, including in the economic sector," Droutsas was quoted as saying.

"We shall not hesitate to do all that we can to find a solution on the issue of the name, stressing our clear position on the red line. This government is open-minded, everything is on the table," he said.

Earlier, the United Nations said that Matthew Nimetz, the mediator that it has appointed to attempt to broker a solution to the long-standing dispute about the use of the name Macedonia, would daily be in contact with Athens and Skopje and would summon a joint meeting "if and when he believes" that such a meeting would be useful.

Macedonia’s EU and Nato accession would be possible only after the country reaches a solution with Greece on the name issue, Papandreou told US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on November 16 in Berlin, Balkan Insight reported.

Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki said on November 17 on a visit to Brussels that he expected that the country’s negotiations on European Union membership to start by the end of this year.

The European Commission has recommended that negotiations be opened, but the name dispute is seen as the major obstacle to progress, given that Greece, which already blocked Macedonia’s Nato membership hopes because of the name dispute – prompting Skopje to take Athens to international court, alleging breach of a bilateral treaty – has said that Macedonia will get no closer to EU membership unless the name dispute is resolved.