Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias expressed a hope that both sides will be ready for a “major step” in a next meeting, speaking immediately negotiations with his counterpart from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) in Vienna, a meeting held under the auspices of UN special mediator Matthew Nimetz.
According to the Greek minister, both sides have detailed the points where they agree and where they disagree, as well as which issues each side considers as the most important.
In a bid to look to the future in relations between the two south Balkans neighbors, Kotzias said a very “positive future agenda” is on the horizon, assuming that the “name issue” is solved.
Successive Greek governments since 1992 have objected to the one-time Yugoslav constituent state using the name “Republic of Macedonia”, claiming the latter implies territorial aspirations against Greece’s largest province, which is called Macedonia, and which more closely approximates the historical and geographical Macedonia.
