CoE Secretary General: Name issue should not overshadow Macedonia’s CE presidency

The name issue should not overshadow Macedonia’s forthcoming presidency of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, the Council of Europe Secretary General said.

Secretary General stressed that it is difficult to talk about this problem. But he hopes that the CE presidency would not prioritize the name issue, on the contrary, the name issue should be put behind because everything depends of the UN-led process.

“The Council of Europe cannot do anything to change the things,” Jagland said.

Jagland, who is set to pay a two—day visit to Macedonia starting Monday, expressed hope that the country would give a positive contribution to the functioning of the organization.