Greece suggest "Slavic-Albanian Macedonia" to end dispute

Source: Beta

SKOPJE -- The Greek negotiator in the decades-long dispute over the name of Macedonia has put forward a proposal to call the country "the Slavic-Albanian Macedonia."

A view of Skopje (Tanjug, file)

This is according to a report in the Skopje-based daily Dnevnik.
The former Yugoslav republic's constitutional name is "the Republic of Macedonia," but the right of its northern neighbor to use the name is disputed by Greece, which has a province by the same name.

The country was admitted to the United Nations under the name "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FRYOM)."

The latest round of negotiations between Athens and Skopje, held in New York with the mediation of UN official Matthew Nimetz, ended without any progress.

During the talks, Greek negotiator Adamantios Vassilakis asked that the country's new name should be used in all documents, regardless of whether they were internal or external.

Nimetz previously suggested "the Republic of Upper Macedonia," but Skopje rejected that proposal as "utterly unacceptable."

In the meantime, Greece is blocking Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integrations pending a resolution of the name dispute.