Thursday’s high-profile meeting in Sofia between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his counterpart from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), Zoran Zaev, amid increasingly stepped up efforts by Athens and Skopje to finally resolve the long-standing “name issue”, attracted the attention of German media in its wake.
“Tsipras and Zaev approach each other in the conflict over the name” was the headline on Die Zeit’s website. The same outlet added that the two governments have found a solution for the official name of the one-time Yugoslav constituent state.
Athens still recognizes its northern neighbor by the provisional “former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, as do international and regional organizations, such as the UN, EU, NATO and others. Conversely, scores of countries, including the US, recognize the land-locked country by its preferred “constitutional name”, i.e. the “Republic of Macedonia”.
Greece objects to the stand-alone name “Macedonia”, given that the former’s largest province is known as Macedonia, the territory that more closely corresponds to historical and geographical Macedonia. According to the Greek side, among many arguments and counter-arguments, the “constitutional name” implies territorial and historical claims against the neighboring Greek province from fYRoM.
Die Zeit also quoted Angela Merkel, who said from Sofia that a resolution to the thorny problem would be “extremely desirable”.
On its part, the German magazine “Focus” writes that “Greece and Macedonia announce progress in the conflict over the name” – as the media outlet uses only the stand-alone name for fYRoM that official Athens opposes.
In a post on its website, Focus’ dispatch notes that Athens continues to raise objections to the fact that the neighboring country has the same name as the Macedonia province in Greece’s north, assessing that “Athens fears the prospect of territorial claims later on…”
Welt, in an article covering the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, discerned “significant success” in the long-standing difference between Athens and Skopje.
