On Tuesday 29 March, the foreign affairs minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov, announced a phone conversation between his prime minister Zoran Zaev and the prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tspiras, in the coming days, indeed in the coming hours, with the goal of agreeing on the resolution of the name 'Macedonia'.
"The two prime ministers intend to have a phone conversation and they have important political decisions to take", he said at an EPC conference. On Sunday evening Dimitrov spoke at length in Brussels with his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias, and their teams saw each other in Athens on Tuesday "to clean up the text" of the compromise. Dimitrov told Belgian newspaper Le Soir and EUROPE that the phone conversation between the prime ministers could take place in the coming days, indeed "on Wednesday or Thursday".
Dimitrov stated that there was no talk of a "new name" or of "changing the name", but of "qualifying the name". Furthermore, he said a working group is also discussing a positive agenda for the future, especially on the economy or security. Because "it is not only about a process to resolve a problem, but to become allies".
An agreement could enable FYROM to move forwards on its European path. The minister stated that the Commission had published its first recommendation to open accession negotiations in 2009, a recommendation since renewed nine times, including twice conditionally. In his view, the issue of the name has prevented the EU having a strong leverage effect because even if FYROM has fulfilled all the criteria, it has not been able to move forwards on its European path due to this name issue.
"To have this compromise as a win-win compromise, the element of the start of talks at the end of June is a very important element. I think we have a historic opportunity not only for the two countries involved and the region, but also an opportunity for the region. I don’t think we can afford to not see this opportunity", he added. The European Council is due to give its decision on opening the negotiations with FYROM, and also with Albania, at the end of June.
The previous day High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and European Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn also spoke in along the same lines.
"If strong political leadership and courage (...) can bring a negotiated, diplomatic result on such a difficult and complex issue, I think this would be an inspiration also for others and it would prove that diplomacy, negotiations (and) the multilateral approach (...) are the ones to invest in. And this, I believe, should be then recognised also by the European Council in terms of opening negotiations with Skopje", Mogherini stated. She also said she believed "the power of the good news of an agreement reached on the name issue with Athens would be so overwhelmingly welcomed by the international community and by Europe" that this would have to be taken into consideration by "all capitals".
"There was consensus in the room as to the fact that a solution to the name issue would change the situation for the next steps of FYROM's process of EU accession", Hahn said at the end of a small lunch that brought together some European foreign affairs ministers. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)