Nikos Kotzias

Exactly a month ago, the day after Athens and Skopje announced a breakthrough in talks on a name for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias was in Moscow for talks with his counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

In the two men's statements there appeared to be no shadows over their countries' relations.

EU foreign ministers on Tuesday postponed the opening of European Union accession negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania until 2019, after France, the Netherlands and Denmark expressed reservations on the two countries at a meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

This is according to Greek Foreign Minster Nikos Kotzias, who spoke for EURACTIV.com.

Kotzias thinks that this would contribute to stability in the Balkans.

Head of the Romanian diplomacy Teodor Melescanu will participate on Monday in the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (CAE) to be held in Luxembourg, where the EU member states' Foreign ministers will have a joint working session with the Ministers of Defence, on which occasion they will assess the stage of progress in security and defence.

France and the Netherlands are likely to resist the opening of European Union accession negotiations with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and reject the candidacy of Albania at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday and the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

White smoke emanated from Psarades, a tiny village in the Prespes Lake district where Greece shares a border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), signaling the end of a decades-long dispute between the two countries over the use of the name "Macedonia." On Sunday, June 17, 2018, the two premiers, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, defied protests in their countries and met for a

Against the scenic backdrop of the Prespes Lake district in northern Greece, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikola Dimitrov, on Sunday signed a landmark agreement to change the Balkan country's name in the presence of their prime ministers and foreign officials.

The Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias, in the presence of their countries' Prime Ministers, Macedonia's Zoran Zaev and Greece's Alexis Tsipras, signed a historic agreement aimed at ending the long dispute over Macedonia's name on Sunday.

After more than two days of vehement debate in Parliament, the government on Saturday survived a no-confidence vote brought against it by the main opposition New Democracy party, but with one less MP.

Final preparations were under way in Athens and Skopje on Friday for the signing of a historic agreement settling a decades old name dispute between the two Balkan neighbors.

Sunday continued to appear as the most likely day for the signing ceremony, which will take place on the northern shore of Big Prespa Lake, on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's side of the border.