'Name' Mediator Meets with Macedonian PM

“I believe now is a good time to solve the name issue,” Nimetz told reporters following his meeting with the Macedonian PM. The mediator said that he had held “constructive” talks with the Macedonian side.

Upon his arrival in the Macedonian capital yesterday, Nimetz talked with Macedonian President Georgi Ivanov and Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Milososki.
 
“I’m not bringing a new comprehensive proposal because I think it’s important to discuss the situation in both capitals and see where we are. But, I do have ideas for moving this forward,” Nimetz said yesterday before the meetings. He noted that a solution to the spat could be reached within a “relatively short time”.

The UN mediator's visit to Skopje comes after a seven month pause in negotiations between the two sides.

Nimetz said that another meeting with the Macedonian side is possible soon. On Friday he heads to Athens to consult top Greek officials as well.

“I think it’s a high priority to accelerate these talks and get some decisions made and see whether we can actually break through this impasse, which has gone on for a very long time,” the UN mediator said.

The Macedonian government will remain constructive and open to Nimetz’s ideas, Gruevski told media on Tuesday. He expressed hope that the visit would boost talks aimed at finding a solution.

Both neighbors are locked in a longstanding spat over the use of the name Macedonia. Athens, an EU and NATO member, conditions Skopje’s entry into these organisations on changes to the country's official name, Republic of Macedonia. Greece argues that the name implies territorial claims against its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

In December Greece blocked Macedonia from acquiring a date for the start of its EU accession talks. In 2008, Greece blocked Macedonia from entering NATO over the same row.

According to media speculations during his last visit to the region in July, Nimetz tabled a “set of ideas” for overcoming the differences between the two sides, including a compromise name with the geographical qualifier “Northern” before the name Macedonia to clearly distinguish the state from the Greek province.

It was not clear whether either state would accept such a compromise.

EU and US officials have expressed hope that a compromise solution will be found in the first half of the year so that Macedonia can resume its EU and NATO accession negotiations as soon as possible.