Zaev-Tsipras phone talks: The telephone rang, talks to continue

The long-awaited telephone conversation between the prime ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, finally took place yesterday, and the continuation of the talks is announced for this morning. The two prime ministers, as it was announced, talked for an hour between 14:00 and 15:00h, and talks were held in “positive mood”. Today’s telephone conversation is announced as final, before the two governments announce to the public in their respective countries whether an agreement has been reached for overcoming the long-standing name dispute.

The Zaev-Tsipras conversation was announced by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias after completing his extraordinary meeting with Tsipras. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Zaev said he hoped for a name solution ahead of the EU summit at the end of this month. Zaev said that it is important to achieve a quality solution that will be legally backed, dignified and preserve the identity, so that there will be a positive turnout among the citizens of the country who need to state their opinion in a referendum.

The Macedonian Prime Minister stressed that communication at all levels of government in the name issue is continually maintained, and that various strategies are being considered for completing this 25-year dispute. He stressed that, of course, this would be an agreement first between the presidents of the two governments, between the foreign ministers, and when this happens, then the head of state, the opposition leader, other political leaders and citizens will be informed.

With this statement, the prime minister once again denied information about the alleged split in the government over the name dispute, or a conflict between him and the head of diplomacy, Nikola Dimitrov. Earlier, Zaev and Dimitrov, through photos of their informal time spent in Strumica, together with their wives, sent a message that there was no dispute between them regarding the strategic issue whose dismissal was committed by the Government in the last few months, and which, according to the latest information, is almost finished. But this did not discourage VMRO-DPMNE MP Antonio Milososki, who at the end of last month was the first to speculate on a possible split on Ilindenska, pointing out that Dimitrov was marginalized during the name negotiations, at the expense of one of the Zaev’s advisers. Commenting on the photos from Strumica, Milososki noted on his Facebook profile that UN diplomats have reported that the current head of diplomacy does not see his long-term perspective in Macedonia in the long run.
In recent weeks, after the agreement on the long-standing dispute with Greece began to unfold, Milososki has repeatedly bombarded the public with information and announcements on the development of the negotiations, which he published on his Facebook profile. Although some of these information have not been confirmed, the public accepts them as relevant since they come from a former foreign minister. Milososki was directly involved in the process of overcoming the dispute, especially when the chief of diplomacy was Dora Bakoyannis from the now-contested New Democracy. He participated in the preparation of Macedonia’s lawsuit against Greece in The Hague for disregarding the Interim Accord between the two countries. President Gjorge Ivanov, on the other hand, has argued for years that the implementation of this verdict, which is in favor of Macedonia, is the way to overcome the name dispute.

We did not receive an answer from President’s Ivanov’s office if he had information about the clash in the state leadership regarding the name issue, and whether he was informed about the latest development of the process, given yesterday’s telephone call between Zaev and Tsipras. Neither Milososki answered to our phone calls yesterday to reveal where he gets information about the course and perspectives of the name negotiations.

Milososki, it seems, is the only official in the camp of the now-opposition VMRO-DPMNE, who is informed about the course of negotiations with Greece, despite not participating in the latest leader’s meeting on this topic, which was convened by Prime Minister Zaev. In contrast, VMRO-DPMNE’s headquarters are constantly issuing allegations that they do not have enough information about the negotiations, although the decision also depends on the opposition’s decision to call for a referendum on the name, and then probably for constitutional changes as well.

VMRO-DPMNE stated yesterday for Nezavisen/Independent that the posts that Milososki shares about the name issue on his Facebook profile are personal and that the party does not have such information. VMRO-DPMNE, according to the party, is not informed either by the ruling party about the course of the process with Greece. According to VMRO-DPMNE, the last informative meeting about the name that Zaev called, was improvisation and did not fulfill the goal of informing the opposition about the course of the process. After the last meeting of the state leadership for the name, President Gjorge Ivanov asked for additional information and documentation from Zaev, who repeatedly said in recent days that he did not accept the name for overall use.

Foreign Minister Dimitrov entered Zaev’s government cabinet as a non-party solution. Although not belonging to the SDSM top, Dimitrov, as the head of diplomacy, was given the most difficult and unpopular task – to resolve the long-standing name dispute in the period when the negotiations with Greece went one step further, so that the heads of diplomats and the governments of both countries directly took part in them.

Aleksandra M. Mitevska