Face-to-face name talks begin

Surprise meeting between Greek and FYROM foreign ministers is under way in Paris after US pressure

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis was due to begin surprise talks in Paris with her counterpart, Antonio Milososki, of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) yesterday as negotiations over the name dispute appear to be rapidly picking up pace.

FYROM’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday evening to announce that Bakoyannis and Milososki will be holding talks for two days.

“The subject of the talks will be bilateral relations and there will be an exchange of views about the outstanding issue of our country’s name,” the statement said.

Earlier in the week, it had been confirmed that the two ministers would meet next week in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

The talks in Paris are seen as being the result of pressure from the USA, which wants the name dispute between the two countries settled as soon as possible so FYROM can join NATO. Greece has said it will once again block Skopje’s entry into the alliance if the name issue is not resolved.

Diplomatic sources said that Washington wants to see if there is fertile ground before another proposal is put to the two sides in New York.

Athens had been hoping that the name issue would not dominate its diplomatic agenda in New York but this now looks unlikely. It is expected that the USA could urge FYROM to take drastic steps, such as calling on the General Assembly to annul the interim agreement between the two countries and recognize it by its constitutional name (Republic of Macedonia) if a solution is not found.

Ahead of the meeting with Milososki, Bakoyannis held talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who reaffirmed his country’s support for Greece’s position.

“We support Greece as we have always done,” he said. “But we hope that the problem will be solved as soon as possible… I hope that there will be progress in the next few weeks.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had led the support for Greece at the NATO summit in Bucharest in April when Athens blocked FYROM’s big to join the alliance.