Greece’s northern neighbor, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), as it’s recognized by Athens and international bodies, is ready to accept a geographic qualifier before the name “Macedonia”, the country’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, said on Tuesday.
Zaev continued to make efforts at rapprochement with Athens, speaking two days after a massive rally in downtown Athens aimed to force the Greek government to take a harder line in fYRoM “name issue” negotiations, which resumed last month.
The government in Skopje on Tuesday also decided to change the name of the city’s airport from “Alexander the Great” to simply “Skopje Airport”, as well as the main road artery linking the country with Greece, its southern neighbor, from “Alexander of Macedon” to “Friendship Highway”.
A solution entailed in a composite name with a geographic qualifier for all uses (erga omnes) is a decision taken by a Greek political leaders’ council as far back as 2008, and ahead of a then NATO summit in Bucharest.
