Macedonia Invites Greek President To Visit

Georgi Ivanov

“I’m certain that your visit will help us contribute to our mutual vision and we will definitely give additional impulse for strengthening good-neighborly relations,” reads the invitation.

In the letter, Ivanov points out that there are more issues that bond the two countries than things that keep them apart. Ivanov personally conveyed the invitation to the Greek chief liaisons officer in Skopje, Alexandra Papadopoulou.

Relations between Skopje and Athens soured last year when Greece used its NATO membership veto to block Macedonia's entry into the bloc.

Athens argues that Skopje’s constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia implies territorial claims towards Greece’s northern province that is also called Macedonia. Greece says it will continue blocking Macedonia's entry into NATO and the EU until a deal is reached for changing that name.

The invitation comes amid mounting diplomatic pressure to solve the row as soon as possible in order to avoid another Greek stand off in December, when the EU Council is expected to give Macedonia a start date for EU accession negotiations.

EU diplomats are “encouraging” both countries to reach a compromise. If a solution is not found, Greece may veto giving Macedonia a start date for accession talks.

Last week the two countries broke the diplomatic ice when Macedonian Premier Nikola Gruevski, and his newly elected Greek counterpart, George Papandreou held a short courtesy meeting in Brussels.

Meanwhile, local media convey a press release issued yesterday by the Luxembourg foreign ministry, concerning Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki's visit to that country.

In it the ministry said that Milsosoki assured his Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn that a solution to the 18 years long disagreement could be found within the next few months.