The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Fresh Talks over Macedonia Name
| 12 March 2008 |
The talks could take place in Vienna or Geneva, between 17 and 25 March according to the reports.
This comes after the last round of talks in the long running dispute held in New York ended without success.
Since then the UN's envoy to the dispute, Matthew Nimetz has travelled to both countries but only to conclude that “a deep gap” remains on both sides. Read more at http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/8395/
United States and NATO officials have been on regular visits to the two countries lately to try to reconcile their positions.
In a last ditch attempt, the U.S. appointed Washington's ambassador to NATO, Victoria Nuland as their mediator in the dispute to help UN efforts in resolving the issue ahead of NATO's Bucharest Summit in April.
Macedonia is expected to receive an invitation to join the alliance at the summit but Greece has threatened to block this if a solution to the 'name' dispute is not found.
Athens objects Skopje’s use of its constitutional name, “Republic of Macedonia” saying it implies Skopje's territorial claims over Greece's own northern province of Macedonia.
“No solution for the dispute means no NATO invitation,” senior Greek officials have warned in recent months.
In 1995, the two countries signed an UN-sponsored deal that among other things restrains Greece from using vetoes to halt Macedonia’s membership of international organisations if Skopje joins under its provisional name “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”.
At the UN-sponsored talks, Skopje has defended its position for a so-called double formula that envisages one mutually acceptable name for bilateral relations with Greece and using its constitutional name "Republic of Macedonia" for the rest of the world.
Athens on the other hand argues Skopje should accept a single name for international correspondence as well as for home use.
