Macedonian President reaffirms willingness to resolve name dispute

Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov reiterated on Sunday (May 23rd) that his country is willing to resolve the long-standing name dispute with Greece, telling Radio Free Europe that there is no alternative to EU and NATO membership. The president, however, stressed that this solution must be mutually acceptable. He said there are two ways out of the deadlock: make Greece respect a 1995 agreement between the two countries or make Greece admit that the state of Macedonia, the Macedonian nation and Macedonian language exist. Under that 1995 bilateral interim agreement, Greece “agrees not to object” to Macedonia’s application for membership in international organisations and institutions that refer to it as the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia.