Macedonia, Greece Stage 'Constructive' Top-Level Meeting on Name Dispute

Greek PM Papandreou and Macedonian PM Gruevski pictured in 2009. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Prime Ministers of Greece and Macedonia George Papandeou and Nikola Gruevski met in Brussels Thursday over the notorious "name dispute" between the two countries.

The Macedonia-Greece name row was also the focal point of talks held earlier between PM Gruevski and Catherine Ashton - the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Macedonian agency MINA reported.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki has described the Gruevski-Papandreou meeting as "constructive", saying that the direct dialogue builds up the trust between Greece and Macedonia.

"This is the ninth consecutive meeting in just a year. We believe that direct dialogue is the best way to increase trust and bring together out positions," Milososki commented, as cited by BGNES, while providing no details on whether the two prime ministers have actually come to any sort of agreement for a comprise solution of the name dispute.

The notorious "name dispute" is based on Greek concerns with Macedonia's constitutional name ("Republic of Macedonia") because much of Northern Greece is called "Macedonia" as an administrative district. Therefore, recognizing the same name for its neighbor could legitimize potential territorial claims by Skopje.

Because of the name dispute, in place since 2001, Greece has so far obstructed Macedonia's accession to NATO, and blockaded the start of EU accession talks with Macedonia. Because of the Greek position the Republic of Macedonia was admitted to the UN under the made-up name of "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia)."

Earlier this week the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague started hearings related to the name dispute – in particular, on whether Greece violated a bilateral accord by "vetoing" Macedonia's NATO accession in 2008.