Macedonia name dispute talks resume on June 22
Matthew Nimetz, United Nations mediator in the Macedonia name dispute, will meet envoys from Athens and Skopje in Geneva on June 22 2009 to ask them for their governments’ respective stances in an attempt to break the deadlock in the long-standing dispute.
The UN said that Nimetz had initiated the meeting. The Geneva discussions will be followed by visits by Nimetz to Skopje on July 6 and Athens on July 8 to meet government officials, the UN said.
"When the countries met in October, Mr. Nimetz presented a set of ideas to both sides for their consideration. The envoy had previously proposed several alternatives, but the governments remained far apart on reaching a satisfactory compromise name for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," according to a UN statement on June 11.
Athens rejects Skopje’s use of the name "Macedonia" for the country, saying that this is historically inappropriate and could be exploited to reinforce Skopje’s territorial claims in Greece, which has a province named Macedonia.
In 2008, proposals floated included "Northern Macedonia" but recently leaders in Skopje have specifically ruled out accepting a name that has a geographical qualifier.
The dispute has led Athens to block an invitation being issued to Macedonia to join Nato and also to vow to oppose its neighbour’s EU prospects pending resolution of the dispute.
Macedonia announced in 2008 that it was taking Greece to international court, saying that its barring of the Nato invitation constituted a violation of a 1995 bilateral accord.
The 1995 interim accord, which was brokered by the UN, details the difference between the two countries on the issue. It also obliges the two sides to continue negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to try to reach agreement, the UN statement said.
On June 12, Bulgarian news agency Focus, quoting Makfax, said that Macedonia’s parliament would on June 15 consider a draft resolution on the name dispute.
"The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia should not be once again subjected to any alterations in the context of the process of resolving the name issue... Macedonia has to insist on the stance of the UN Security Council contained in the Resolution 917, according to which the agreed solution should be used to replace the current reference, i.e. for the needs of UN," a draft of the resolution says.
It says that Macedonia will insist that Greece should not block the country’s accession to international organisations.
Focus said that Greek daily Eleftheros Typos had said that the new initiative to end the deadlock "has (US president) Barack Obama’s stamp on it".
The new initiative comes at times when Sweden is taking over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU on July 1 2009.
Official Stockholm said they would push for settling the name row in order to enable Macedonia to start the accession negotiations with EU by the year's end.
The Greek paper cited its sources as saying that Macedonian government expects serious pressure from an EU country as well as from Washington to reach a compromise and finally settle the dispute.
Greek daily Kathimerini said on June 12 that it was thought that Nimetz would try to continue talks on the basis of his most recent proposal, "Republic of Northern Macedonia".
The UN said that Nimetz had initiated the meeting. The Geneva discussions will be followed by visits by Nimetz to Skopje on July 6 and Athens on July 8 to meet government officials, the UN said.
"When the countries met in October, Mr. Nimetz presented a set of ideas to both sides for their consideration. The envoy had previously proposed several alternatives, but the governments remained far apart on reaching a satisfactory compromise name for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia," according to a UN statement on June 11.
Athens rejects Skopje’s use of the name "Macedonia" for the country, saying that this is historically inappropriate and could be exploited to reinforce Skopje’s territorial claims in Greece, which has a province named Macedonia.
In 2008, proposals floated included "Northern Macedonia" but recently leaders in Skopje have specifically ruled out accepting a name that has a geographical qualifier.
The dispute has led Athens to block an invitation being issued to Macedonia to join Nato and also to vow to oppose its neighbour’s EU prospects pending resolution of the dispute.
Macedonia announced in 2008 that it was taking Greece to international court, saying that its barring of the Nato invitation constituted a violation of a 1995 bilateral accord.
The 1995 interim accord, which was brokered by the UN, details the difference between the two countries on the issue. It also obliges the two sides to continue negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to try to reach agreement, the UN statement said.
On June 12, Bulgarian news agency Focus, quoting Makfax, said that Macedonia’s parliament would on June 15 consider a draft resolution on the name dispute.
"The Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia should not be once again subjected to any alterations in the context of the process of resolving the name issue... Macedonia has to insist on the stance of the UN Security Council contained in the Resolution 917, according to which the agreed solution should be used to replace the current reference, i.e. for the needs of UN," a draft of the resolution says.
It says that Macedonia will insist that Greece should not block the country’s accession to international organisations.
Focus said that Greek daily Eleftheros Typos had said that the new initiative to end the deadlock "has (US president) Barack Obama’s stamp on it".
The new initiative comes at times when Sweden is taking over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU on July 1 2009.
Official Stockholm said they would push for settling the name row in order to enable Macedonia to start the accession negotiations with EU by the year's end.
The Greek paper cited its sources as saying that Macedonian government expects serious pressure from an EU country as well as from Washington to reach a compromise and finally settle the dispute.
Greek daily Kathimerini said on June 12 that it was thought that Nimetz would try to continue talks on the basis of his most recent proposal, "Republic of Northern Macedonia".