Fresh Macedonia 'Name' Talks Announced

UN mediator Matthew Nimetz

The UN mediator in the dispute, Matthew Nimetz, has invited both parties to a fresh round of talks slated for January 16 and 17 in New York, six weeks after Skopje won an international court ruling related to the dispute.

The head of the Macedonian delegation, Zoran Jolevski, and his Greek counterpart Adamantios Vassilakis have accepted the offer.

Nimetz will initially meet with both representatives separately, the UN press service said on Tuesday.

The meetings will be used to try to “re-invigorate the talks” and to make “meaningful progress toward resolving the 'name' issue”.

Athens and Skopje are locked in a two-decade long dispute over Macedonia's name. Citing the unresolved issue, Greece has blocked Macedonia’s progress towards both EU and NATO membership.

Despite numerous attempts to reach a compromise, the UN talks have been practically frozen for almost a year.

Greece insists that use of the term "Macedonia" by its neighbour implies a territorial claim to its own northern province of the same name.

Macedonia, on the other hand, sees the demand to change its name as insulting and as an attack on the country's identity.
 
The announcement of new talks comes one month after the International Court of Justice, ICJ, ruled that Greece had breached an interim deal, brokered by the UN in 1995, when it blocked Macedonia’s attempt to join NATO in 2008.

Under the terms of the UN deal, Greece was obliged not to block Macedonia from joining international organisations as long it used a provisional UN reference, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

While the ruling by the ICJ was seen as a moral and diplomatic victory for Macedonia, the tribunal has no tools to enforce its decisions.

Following the announcement of the judgement, both NATO and EU representatives called upon the two sides to continue the UN brokered talks.