Greek media: Solution to name issue in the hands of PMs Zaev and Tsipras


Conveying the statement of the UN mediator in Athens-Skopje name negotiations, Matthew Nimetz, Greek media reported Sunday that now the solution to the matter is in the hands of Prime Ministers Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras.

‘Tsipras-Zaev meeting: New window for Solution’; ‘Skopje issue: The Baton in the PMs’ Hands; ‘Sounio revives ambitions for settling Skopje issue’, read some of Greek media titles about yesterday’s meeting of Greek, Macedonian Foreign Ministers, Nikos Kotzias and Nikola Dimitrov respectively, with UN mediator Nimetz, MIA reports from Athens.

‘The six-hour Kotzias-Dimitrov-Nimetz talks opened the way for a meeting of the Prime Ministers,’ Greek state-owned ERT reported.

‘Without a progress in the negotiations, a meeting of the two Prime Ministers wouldn’t have been scheduled,’ Alpha TV said in its central news program.

After, according to Nimetz, productive Kotzias-Dimitrov talks in Sounio, the Tsipras-Zaev meeting in Sofia will be decisive for the name negotiations, the Greek portal 24/7 says.

The two countries are hoping to sort out differences over the name dispute that have soured relations for over two decades and blocked FYROM’s aspirations to join the European Union and NATO, Greek paper Kathimerini says in its report on yesterday’s negotiation round in Sounio

‘Athens and Skopje are reportedly examining a scenario whereby the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will be given enough time to approve a deal that will ensure that its name will be used ‘erga omnes’ – domestically and internationally – and to review its constitution. According to this scenario, FYROM will be immediately inducted into NATO and will begin accession talks with the European Union as soon as it meets these two key Greek demands,’ Kathimerini reported.