Pressure Mounts for Solution to Name Dispute

"We are working to solve the name issue in the short term, we are giving our best, our maximum, while of course protecting the state and the national interests of the Republic of Macedonia,” Gruevski said.

His statement came after his meeting last week with the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Philip Gordon, which took place in Zagreb. Prior to the meeting Gordon raised concern that the country could remain on the doorsteps of NATO and the EU for a longer period if it fails to solve the name spat quickly.

Local media saw the meeting as a means for the US to exert pressure on the parties to speed up the UN sponsored name talks.

Similar concerns about the effects of the unresolved name spat were voiced by Macedonian opposition leader Branko Crvenkovski from the Social Democrats, SDSM, and from Gruevski’s junior coalition partner, Ali Ahmeti of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.

EU diplomats have also been consistently pushing for the negotiations to move along quickly. They have expressed hope that the spat could be resolved within the next few months, noting that there must be political will from both sides.

“If we delay resolving the name issue and the implementation of all reforms that are important for the country's future and its economic progress, it will certainly have a negative impact," Erwan Fouere, the EU Ambassador to Macedonia, said recently.

Meanwhile, observers expect that the UN mediator in the talks, Mathew Nimetz, will present a new compromise name proposal by the end of this month.

Some observers expect that the proposed name will be “Republic of Northern Macedonia”, which would be presented without the requirement that the countries that already recognise Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, change their stance.

Since 2008 Athens has effectively been blocking Skopje’s entry into NATO, arguing that Skopje’s official name, Republic of Macedonia, implies territorial claims against its own northern province, which is also called Macedonia.

In December Greece blocked Skopje’s bid to obtain a start date for its EU accession talks over the same dispute.