Macedonia welcomes Greek proposal to revive name talks

SKOPJE—Macedonia welcomed on Monday a proposal by its neighbor Greece aimed at reviving talks on a 21-year row over Macedonia’s name that has blocked its integration into the European Union and NATO.

“I welcome the intention… to move the talks on the difference over name decisively forward,” Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki said in a letter to his Greek counterpart, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Since Skopje proclaimed its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece has alleged that its use of the name Macedonia could imply a territorial claim to the northern Greek province of the same name, and has blocked the country’s attempts to enter NATO and the European Union.

In October, Greece offered Macedonia a draft memorandum of understanding “to move qualitatively forward” with negotiations held under United Nations auspices, which have so far been fruitless.

Greece wants agreement on a name “which will leave no ambiguities as to the distinction” between Macedonia and the Greek region of Macedonia, and which will be applicable in domestic and international usage.

The Greek memorandum calls on both sides “to reaffirm that neither will assert or support claims to any part of the territory of the other.”

Popeski said it was Macedonia’s “firm desire to overcome the difference over the name.

“No one should question territorial integrity, political independence and sovereignty of both countries,” he said.

“We recognize the need to create a more balanced and credible way ahead.”

The International Court of Justice last year said Greece had breached a 1995 agreement to end the name dispute when it forced NATO to reject Macedonia as a member in 2008.

The Hague-based court, however, declined Macedonia’s request to force Greece to end its objections to Skopje’s membership in international organisations.