Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras spoke by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, with the resurrected fYRoM “name issue” and prickly Greek-Turkish relations reportedly dominating the short conversation.
The only substantive development to be leaked from the phone call is a face-to-face meeting on Friday between the two leaders on the sidelines of a EU summit in Brussels.
According to reports leaked out of Athens, Tsipras briefed the powerful German chancellor over ongoing negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) regarding a solution for the “name issue” still separating the two neighbors.
Moreover, the same reports stated, Tsipras emphasized that respect for international law in the Aegean and Mediterranean is a necessary condition for the future promotion of EU-Turkey relations.
The phone call a day before a scheduled visit to Berlin by the prime minister of fYRoM, Zoran Zaev.
