Greek Reaction to 'Macedonian Chairmanship 2010'

At Tuesday’s session of the Committee, during which Macedonia took over the rotating presidency, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas submitted a declaration saying that Skopje, in using the name, is abusing its position as chair and undermining UN efforts to find a solution to the long lasting Macedonia-Greece name spat.

In response to Droutsas' move, Macedonian Foreign Minister Antoino Milososki said: “As you are Greek and Carl Bildt is Swedish,  I'm Macedonian and that is my fundamental human right in this Council, which is the house of human rights.”

The small Balkan country yesterday took over the six month rotating chairmanship from Switzerland, holding the post for the first time since the country gained independence. It will hand over the chairmanship to Turkey in November.

Previously Skopje filed its planned agenda under the name “Macedonian Chairmanship 2010” but with a note, apparently in an effort to please Athens, adding that the official name that the country uses in the UN is the provisional reference Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, FYROM.

In a joint press conference held with Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland and Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey on Tuesday, Macedonia's Milososki said that his country is fully prepared to start EU accession negotiations.

He noted that last year Skopje was given a positive report by the European Commission, and added that it hopes a date for entry talks will be set in the course of Spain's Presidency, followed by a one-year screening period and the opening of the first chapter of accession negotiations in mid-2011.

Greece and Macedonia have been locked in a dispute over the use of the name Macedonia for almost two decades.

Macedonia accepted the UN provisional reference FYROM in 1993 in order to avoid a Greek blockade in the UN.

In 2008 Athens blocked Skopje from becoming a full member of NATO, and last December prevented its smaller neighbour from getting a start date for its EU accession talks.

Greece insists that Skopje must change its official name, Republic of Macedonia, if it wants Athens to unblock the country's bids to join NATO and the EU. Greece says the current name implies territorial claims against its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

At the moment efforts are being made within the UN sponsored bilateral name talks to find a compromise solution.