Knaus: Now or Never For Name Deal

Knaus told the local Dnevnik daily on Monday: "If there is no solution now [in the next few weeks], when circumstances are better than they have ever been before, then there might not be another breakthrough for the next two decades.

"But the hardest economic and social reforms are yet to come. No unpopular Greek government would be able to make any compromise, which still has to be sold to the public," Knaus warned, noting that Greek PM George Papandreou is still a popular politician capable of making decisions on the sensitive issue.

Knaus recently proposed a possible solution to the near two-decades-long spat - in which Athens insists that Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims against its own northern province, also called Macedonia - with the immediate entry of Macedonia to NATO and the launch of EU accession talks.

In return, the country would change its name the moment it finished talks and was ready to accede to the EU.

He has said both sides needed to first agree to a mutually acceptable name.

Macedonia would then change its constitution to confirm it will change its name the moment it enters the EU and Greece should then lift its objections to its smaller neighbour joining NATO, which would also unfreeze Macedonia’s EU accession talks that could begin his year, he said.

He said such a plan would enable both sides to emerge winners from the dispute while ensuring Skopje that it had not changed its name in vain.

"There is a simple reason why both Macedonia and Greece could accept this: it is better than the status quo for both. At this moment, EU Balkan enlargement is completely blocked".

In 2008 Greece blocked Macedonia from entering NATO and last autumn it prevented the country from getting its desired start date for EU accession talks, despite a positive recommendation from the European Commission..

But UN-brokered bilateral talks for overcoming the spat have so far been in vain.

UN mediator Natthew Nimets has been silent ever since the June EU summit when EU ministers once again failed to extend the date for Macedonia's accession talks due to the lack of progress in the name talks.

Observers see the next NATO summit in November as the next informal deadline for reaching a compromise.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki on Monday has expressed hope the USA will boost its lobbying to support his country finally joining NATO.