Tweaked name proposal due
The United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz is due in Athens today with a variation on his latest proposal for a resolution to the ongoing name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Nimetz said he presented government officials in Skopje yesterday with a tweaked version of the «Republic of Northern Macedonia,» the proposal he made last October to envoys from Greece and FYROM and which remained on the table. The mediator said that he set out «certain amendments» to his proposal of last October and asked the FYROM government «to examine the package in its entirety, together with the changes.» Nimetz did not give any indication of FYROM officials’ reaction to his new proposal but expressed cautious optimism. «I have a feeling that there is enough going on to allow us to think that maybe we can have some type of solution,» he said. Responding to a reporter’s question, Nimetz said the name issue is the only subject in the negotiations and issues of identity and language are not on the talks table.
