FYROM media reports UN mediator’s name proposals

A website in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Thursday published the five names it claims United Nations negotiator Matthew Nimetz brought to table in talks the previous day between representatives from Athens and Skopje.

According to the website www.mkd.mk, Nimetz proposed: Republika Nova Makedonija (Republic of New Macedonia); Republika Severna Makedonija (Republic of Northern Macedonia), Republika Gorna Makedonija (Republic of Upper Macedonia); Republika Vardarska Makedonija (Republic of Vardar Macedonia) and Republika Makedonija (Skopje) (Republic of Macedonia [Skopje]).

Skopje raised new obstacles to a solution to the name dispute with Athens on Wednesday after its chief negotiator said that the proposal submitted by Nimetz was “far from dignified.”

Striking a defiant tone after his meeting with his opposite number from Greece, Adamantios Vasilakis, and Nimetz, Vasko Naumovski said that he saw no grounds for progress and told the Sitel TV station in Skopje that “we have a name, it is the republic of Macedonia… no one can deny the existence of a ‘Macedonian’ nation and language.”

For his part, Nimetz struck a note of optimism, saying that “the procedure is moving in the right direction.”

He also reiterated his position, after the two-hour meeting in New York, that the solution will include the term “Macedonia,” which Panos Kammenos, the leader of Greece’s junior coalition partner, has said his party will not accept.

Any hopes for a solution without that term would be “unrealistic,” said Nimetz, who asked both negotiators to respond to the proposals in two weeks at the latest. He added that negotiations must lead to a result in one or two months.