Page 12 - bne_newspaper_January_26_2018

Southeast Europe
January 26, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
Macedonia offers concessions to Greece to resolve name dispute
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
The first ever meeting between the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia took place on January 24 when Macedonian’s Zoran Zaev met his Greek peer Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of the Davos forum in Switzerland.
The meeting looks like the final effort by Skopje to find a solution to the long-standing name dispute between the two countries. Greece objects to the name Macedonia, adopted by its neighbour after it broke away from former Yugoslavia in 1991, as it has a northern province with the same name, and for years it has blocked Skopje’s ambitions of joining the EU and Nato.
At the joint news conference following the three- hour meeting, Zaev said that the government will rename Skopje airport and the country’s main motorway, both bearing the name Alexander
the Great, as a sign of good will for reaching a solution to the thorny issue.
According to Zaev, the solution should be acceptable for both sides and protect the national interests of the two countries. He added that finding a solution will be relevant to Macedonia’s aspirations to join the EU and Nato.
“We will rename the airport and the motorway [that leads to Greece], which will be called ‘Friendship’,” Zaev announced with a smile on his face.
He reiterated that Macedonia has no territorial claims towards Greece, one of the biggest fears of Athens.
However, he stressed that not all the overtures
Macedonian’s Zoran Zaev and his Greek peer Alexis Tsipras held a three-hour meeting on the sidelines of the Davos forum in Switzerland.
should be from Skopje. “On the other hand, Greece should show a good will in the process of the name solution,” Zaev underlined.
The negotiation process will continue and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov will be in charge of it from the Macedonian side, Zaev said.
At the news conference, Tsipras underlined
that the issue of irredentism should be dealt with. However, he said he is happy about the negotiations process between the two countries, saying it is moving towards its end.
For Tsipras, the issue should be solved with pragmatism and responsibility, and the new name for Greek northern neighbour should be erga omnes — a Greek phrase meaning “to be used
by everyone”.
For Greece, these efforts are aimed at contributing to the stability of the Balkan region.
After both countries’ negotiators held talks with UN envoy Matthew Nimetz in New York last week, gov- ernment officials in Skopje will hold a coordination meeting on January 27, together with Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and the leader of the op- position VMRO-DPMNE party Hristijan Mickovski. Nimetz will visit Macedonia next week to see the reactions of the Macedonian side.
“I am hopeful that this process is moving in the positive direction,” Nimetz said in New York. According to media reports, several potential names for the country were proposed at the latest