The survey concerning Greek – FYROM Relations, was conducted by PORU and the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy ELIAMEP and it was presented in the Greek newspaper “To Vima” (https://goo.gl/L8HXxg) on Saturday, February 17, 2018.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias and Nikola Dimitrov, met in Vienna last week and the discussions took place in a friendly manner since both sides have found several points of convergence.
Currently, the focal point of the discussions, is about an international agreement which is going to replace the Interim Accord (whereby Greece recognized the Republic of Macedonia under its provisional reference), signed in 1995 by both countries.
After the Vienna’s meeting, the FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaef, declared once again that accepts a compound name with a geographical qualifier before the word “Macedonia”, thus Matthew Nimetz’s prοpositions including temporal qualifiers are not an option anymore.
The key-point now is still the “erga omnes” implementation, in conjunction with the constitutional amendment that the Greek side is asking for. Therefore, Athens shows willingness to give the necessary time frame, for the purpose of changing the internal name of the neighboring country.
Nevertheless, the survey’s findings reveal that more than seven-in-ten (71.5%) of the Greek population, oppose the use of the term “Macedonia” in the name of the neighboring country and It is also noticeable that 6 out of 10 (60.5%) believe that the use of the term “Macedonia” may hide a future territorial threat for the country.
The official article was presented in Greek and you could find it here: https://goo.gl/zHNPkD
