Tsipras briefing Greek President, party leaders on FYROM name talks
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was on Saturday meeting with President Prokopis Pavlopoulos to brief him on latest developments regarding ongoing name talks with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
“We want a long-lasting solution,” Tsipras said, stressing that the government insists that any name will be used erga omnes and that FYROM reviews its constitution to change clauses viewed by Greece as expressing irredentist ambitions. He added that negotiations with Skopje are in a “crucial stage.”
The Greek president called for “the greatest possible consensus” between the country’s political parties.
Tsipras is planned to brief the other heads of Greece’s parliamentary parties later on Saturday.
Athens and Skopje are reportedly discussing “Republic of Ilinden Macedonia” as a candidate name for FYROM as part of the solution to the decades-old dispute.
The proposal was reportedly put forward during talks in Sofia between the prime ministers of the two countries, Tsipras and Zoran Zaev.
On Friday, New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was informed by Tsipras on the phone, and former PASOK foreign minister Evangelos Venizelos, rejected the name outright, saying it was irredentist.
