Skopje: UN Name Mediator Cautious in Talks

“I am not bringing any new comprehensive proposal” just “ideas for moving this forward”, Nimetz told media before meeting Macedonia’s foreign minister Antonio Milososki.

"I expect a lot," Nimetz said, adding that he is doing his outmost to help resolve the dispute. He noted that a solution can be reached “in a relatively short time”.

Nimetz's visit is the first following a seven-month break in official talks between Skopje and Athens.

After meeting Milososki, Nimetz plans to meet President Gjorgi Ivanov and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on Wednesday, before heading to Athens.

“We remain with a widely constructive approach,'' Gruevski told media on Tuesday. He expressed hope that Nimetz’s visit will bring added impetus to the talks.

Nimetz last visited Skopje and Athens in July last year. Shortly after, official talks were put on hold because of parliamentary elections in Greece.

Both neighbours are locked in a long standing spat over the use of the name Macedonia. Athens, an EU and NATO member, conditions Skopje’s entry in to these organisations with a name change, arguing that its constitutional name implies territorial claims against its own northern province, also called Macedonia.

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

The EU is now pushing for a solution to be reached in the first half of this year.

“We have agreed to promote a constructive, proactive approach at these meetings in order to be able to contribute to reaching a solution, or at least to progress in the name talks” read a joint statement issued by Macedonia's leaders following consultations on Monday.

But analysts in Skopje sounded a cautious tone, noting that following a long break in talks Nimetz usually comes to Skopje and Athens only to test the waters. “Nimetz is here to hear from Gruevski and not to offer anything himself,” Stevo Pendarovski, a political analyst and former advisor to presidents Boris Trajkovski and Branko Crvenkovski, told Balkan Insight, adding that “at the moment it seems that the international community is expecting new proposals to come from Macedonia” (and not vica versa).

He said Gruevski’s latest statements that Skopje will first "wait and see what Nimetz has to offer" do not give much hope for a quick breakthrough.

According to local media Nimetz’s last “set of ideas” revealed in 2009 contained some form of the name Macedonia with a geographical qualifier to clearly distinct the state from the Greek province.