Kotzias: ‘Most difficult issues’ still pending in name talks

After talks with his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nikola Dimitrov in Ohrid on Thursday, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said that "the most difficult issues" remain outstanding in ongoing "Macedonia" name talks.

"We took the steps that we could today, positive steps, and we continue to hope to make the biggest and most difficult issues easy," Kotzias said.

The climate of the talks appeared to be cordial with Kotzias referring to his FYROM counterpart as "my friend Nikola" and saying that they would meet again in the coming weeks to continue with negotiations, possibly before a scheduled summit in Thessaloniki on May 3 and 4.

Dimitrov, for his part, said that his discussions with Kotzias "were sincere and covered all the issues under negotiations — on some there were progress, on others differences remain."

Athens wants a name solution to be “erga omnes,” meaning that it would be for general use, at home and abroad.

It also wants changes to parts of FYROM’s constitution deemed irredentist.