Tsipras: Name talks are ‘difficult’ but ‘necessary’

The negotiations, which aim to resolve the decades-old name row are “difficult” but “necessary,” Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said on Tuesday, during a speech at the annual meeting of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, Greek daily Kathimerini writes.

Tsipras said the government has handled the talks “with a sense of responsibility and patriotism,” but also with the belief that a solution must be found.

“It is precisely this stance that shapes a new image for Greece internationally and strengthens its role as a pillar of stability in a region that swirls in a vortex of parallel crises. As is the case these days in Italy but also in Turkey for quite some time,” he added.

Greek FM Nikos Kotzias said on Monday that the foreign ministers of the two countries had wrapped up the main round of negotiations and that the countries’ prime ministers would lead the final stage of talks after technical and legal issues have been defined.