Push for Macedonia-Greece Name Deal Resumes in New York

The 'name' talks resume on Friday in New York at 3.30pm Macedonian time, after Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and Greece's Nikos Kotzias marathon six-hour discussion the previous day.

After the talks, the two diplomats did not give any statements about possible progress.

Before the start of the fresh talks, Macedonia reiterated that it will continue to support the latest compromise solution package discussed last Friday at the Western Balkans Summit, involving the proposed composite name for the country, 'Republic of Ilinden Macedonia'.

"We think that's a good basis for a definitive solution," Macedonian government spokesperson Mile Bosnjakovski said in Skopje on Wednesday.

Last Friday, after a meeting between Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, the two sides sounded close to a compromise.

Following their meeting, Zaev said the two Prime Ministers had pinpointed one concrete package that might lead to a solution and he later revealed that the package included the composite name 'Republic of Ilinden Macedonia', which he said the Macedonian side had proposed.

He also said he was ready to support widespread use of this name and initiate constitutional changes to incorporate it at home. He said the name did not jeopardise Macedonian identity. 

But he also warned that if another name came back on the table, the Greek demands concerning its use and about changes to the Macedonian constitution would have to be renegotiated as well.

In Greece, this proposal got a cool response from the opposition, while Greek Prime Minister Tsipras was also reserved about it.

Greece has repeated on several...