Macedonia, Greece hold more name talks

GENEVA, Switzerland

The latest UN-mediated round of talks between Macedonia and Greece on their name dispute ended Monday (June 22nd) in Geneva without progress, media reported.

“We did not have a breakthrough,” UN mediator Matthew Nimetz told journalists after talks with both countries’ negotiators — Macedonia’s Zoran Jolevski and Greece’s Adamantios Vassilakis. No new proposals were offered. Nimetz plans to visit both Skopje and Athens next month to discuss the situation further.

In Skopje, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said any solution to the name dispute would be subject to a referendum. For her part, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis called on Skopje to adopt “a different approach” in the talks.