Athens holds its ground in name dispute

Greece and FYROM still at odds as US ups pressure before NATO summit

The government yesterday insisted that it would not be pushed into accepting a compromise on the Macedonia name dispute before Wednesday's NATO summit, as Western pressure for an immediate solution intensified.

«No solution means no invitation (for Skopje to join NATO),» Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis told Parliament on Saturday, stressing «only a mutually acceptable solution... can form the basis for constructive relations within the alliance.»

Meanwhile US officials cranked up the pressure on Athens to agree to a settlement so that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) can join NATO. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Greece's Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on Friday night to stress Washington's resolve. And, sources told Kathimerini, US President George W. Bush is considering inviting Karamanlis and FYROM's Premier Nikola Gruevski for talks on the matter before the NATO summit gets under way.

Bakoyannis has stuck to her guns, dismissing Rice's description of the name spat as «something that has to do with antiquity» and stressing, in an interview published in yesterday's Ethnos, that «we are not a country that takes orders from anyone.» Bakoyannis added that «the pressure of time will not lead us to accept proposals in the form of an ultimatum.»

The Greek FM said she believed United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz might make a fresh proposal before Wednesday but said, «It will be difficult to reach a solution before the summit.»

But her FYROM counterpart Antonio Milososki said he thought a deal could be struck by then. «We are running out of time but I think the possibility (of an agreement) still exists,» he told reporters on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Slovenia on Saturday. He said FYROM's parliament will today discuss Nimetz's latest proposal for a solution to the name dispute - Republic of Macedonia (Skopje) - which is said to have appealed to FYROM.

Milososki and Bakoyannis had been due to hold talks in Slovenia at the weekend but the Greek side canceled the meeting after US pressure intensified.

Most European foreign ministers at the Slovenia summit avoided taking a stance on the FYROM accession issue. But Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned of the regional repercussions of blocking Skopje's bid to join NATO. «This summit does not have the right to fail and must not replace more stability for less stability,» he said.