Brussels, 18/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Hungarian government has decided to recognise the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by the name of the “Republic of Macedonia”, announced Gabor Kaleta, a spokesperson for the Hungarian minister of foreign affairs - as relayed by several media on 17 December. “Hungary now recognises Macedonia as the 'Republic of Macedonia' in its bilateral relations with this Balkan country”, he said, adding to AFP that the Hungarian government “will explain the details of (its) decision” in a press release that it will publish “soon”. Until now, Hungary has called this Balkan country the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (FYROM) - a name given by the United Nations in 1993 while awaiting settlement of the conflict with Greece on the name “Macedonia”.
Although FYROM obtained its EU candidate status in 2005, Greece has been blocking since the opening of the accession negotiations, wanting a settlement on the name issue first.
The Macedonian minister for foreign affairs, Nikola Poposki, has welcomed Hungary's “open and voiced” support and its support for FYROM's accession negotiations. “This decision shows once more the exceptionally positive relations between the Republic of Macedonia and Hungary”, he added (our translation throughout).
During a visit to Skopje in November, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, had said that he thought it was inappropriate for a member state to make the resolution of the name conflict a pre-condition for the start of accession negotiations.
Fifteen member states recognise the “Republic of Macedonia”: the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Sweden, and also Croatia. (CG/transl.fl)