Two Greek newspapers published mutually conflicting reports on Athens' opinion of the new package of ideas put forward by United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz to resolve Greece's dispute with Skopje over the use of the name Macedonia.

On October 8 2008, Nimetz met senior envoys from Athens and Skopje in New York to give them his package of ideas for a way to end the dispute. Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic using the name Macedonia, which Athens holds could be used to reinforce Skopje's territorial claims in northern Greece.

Because of the dispute, Greece blocked Macedonia's aspirations to join Nato and has indicated it would do the same about Macedonian hopes of joining the European Union.

Media reports after the meeting in New York said that Nimetz's proposal was for Skopje to call the country "Republic of Northern Macedonia" and for the language used there to be called Macedonian.

In successive reports on October 9 and 10, Greek daily Kathimerini said that the government in Athens privately was positive about the Nimetz proposals, but wanted to play a waiting game by seeing how Skopje would publicly react.

The "name dispute" recently has seen internal divisions in Skopje, notably between president Branko Crvenkovski and prime minister Nikola Gruevski.

Gruevski was set to convene a meeting of political leaders to discuss Nimetz's plan but initial reactions from Greece's neighbour suggested that there was concern about the omission of the matters of ethnicity and language from the deal. There also was concern that the country's citizens would be known as "Residents of the Republic of Northern Macedonia" rather than Macedonians, Kathimerini said.

While Kathimerini appeared to be predicting progress, another Greek daily, Ta Nea, said that Athens was negative about the new Nimetz proposals.

In public, the message from Athens that has been heard came from foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis, who - after briefing prime minister Costas Karamanlis on the proposals - told journalists on October 9: "We are in the midst of negotiations and have specific positions and goals; the talks will continue so that there can be a result that satisfies both countries, so that a solution can be found without winners or losers".

"We are engaged in negotiations, with due responsibility and seriousness, and we want the other side to do the same," Bakoyannis said.

Greek foreign ministry spokesperson Giorgos Koumoutsakos said: "The government is assessing the new ideas extremely carefully and with a constructive outlook".

Website Macedonia Online said that authorities in Skopje had released no official statement about Nimetz's proposal.