Name dispute tests Greek gov't cohesion

As efforts intensify to resolve the decades-long name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Panos Kammenos, the leader of Independent Greeks, the right-wing populist junior partner in the leftist-led coalition, dampened expectations and revealed cracks in the government after reiterating that he would never back a solution including the word "Macedonia."

Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, Kammenos, who is also Greece's defense minister, said that Greek party leaders had agreed in a 1992 meeting convened by then President Constantine Karamanlis that the use of the word was a nonstarter for Greece. Deciding otherwise, he said, would require a fresh meeting under the current president.

"My position and that of Independent Greeks is that the Council of Political Party Leaders must be convened," he said, adding that if...