AP reports from Athens that With optimism rising that Greece will finally be able to settle a name issue with its neighbor he Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) the major rival New Democracy wants the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA to explain how that will be done and is calling for a unified “national position” on the issue.
Greece has blocked FYROM’s ambitions to enter NATO as well as the European Union since the two – with Greece having veto power in both institutions which recognize unanimity – have wrangled over the word Macedonia in the acronym as that’s also the name of Greece’s northern province bordering FYROM.
With a new government in place in FYROM moderating the hardline that had been adopted by previous administrations, United Nations envoy Matthew Nimetz, who’s been trying to get a resolution for 23 years, said he thinks 2018 is the year it will get done.
But SYRIZA’s junior coalition partner, the pro-austerity, marginal, jingoistic Independent Greeks (ANEL) led by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, announced it would never agree to use of the word Macedonia in whatever new name is mutually agreed, if so.
That led Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to say ANEL isn’t needed, even though the government relies on its nine votes to have a scant three-vote majority in Parliament. Kotzias said the government wants a “majority of lawmakers,” not a “majority of parties,” suggesting if rival parties back SYRIZA that ANEL could be disregarded.
Yet, New Democracy chief Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece can’t be divided, especially since every name currently on the table, while having a geographical qualifier, still allows use of the word Macedonia, which a Greek government agreed to in 1991 and again in 2007.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
