Clouds gather over negotiations with FYROM

Just a few days before Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias heads to Skopje, a shadow has been cast over negotiations to resolve the name dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia after it emerged that his counterpart, Nikola Dimitrov, reportedly described Greece's positions during his contacts with European Union officials as bordering on the "absurd." 

According to diplomatic sources, Dimitrov's remarks did not go down well in Athens, with officials questioning the approach of authorities in Skopje with regard to the negotiations. 

It is not lost on Athens, however, that Dimitrov, who is a member of the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party, is also part of a fragile coalition under the leadership of Socialist Zoran Zaev, and that his rhetoric is also aimed at a domestic audience. 

Tensions ran high this week as FYROM's Parliament approved a law...