UN set to launch new talks to end dispute between Greece and FYROM

Feb 23, 2010, 15:44 GMT

Athens - The United Nations is prepared to launch new talks in an effort to resolve an 18-year dispute over a name between Greece and its northern neighbour, provisionally called Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), reports said Tuesday.

The UN Secretary General's Special Mediator on the Macedonia issue, Matthew Nimitz, is scheduled to bring a package of ideas to Athens and Skopje based on discussions with the two sides.

He was due to arrive in Skopje for talks on Tuesday and is scheduled to visit Athens on Friday.

'We are at a critical crossroads in relations between the two countries and the international dimension of the issue has become very important,' Nimitz told Greek state television NET.

'I hope that both countries will manifest leader abilities and creativity and make efforts so that progress many be achieved in this visit.'

He said that the present Greek government, under the leadership of Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou, has placed the name issue among the top items of its foreign policy agenda.

'From the very beginning it put importance on the issue and let me know that it was treating it with extreme seriousness,' Nimitz added.

The United Nations formally refers to the country as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), while Skopje prefers the name Republic of Macedonia.

Greece and its northern neighbour have been at loggerheads over the right to the name of 'Macedonia' since 1991, when Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia.

Athens claims the name dispute implies territorial claims on its own northern province of Macedonia, where Alexander the Great was born.

UN-led negotiations on the issue have proved fruitless and Greece used its veto to block Macedonia from becoming a member of NATO.

The name issue has also slowed Skopje's integration into the European Union.

Skopje was granted EU candidate status in 2005, but Athens has threatened to veto the beginning of the talks if a solution is not found to the name issue.