Despite the political turmoil in Greece, its Ministry of foreign affairs is planning to continue to intensify the policy of proactive cooperation with Macedonia, directed at improving the relations between the countries and solving the name issue.
According to diplomatic circles in Greece, the Greek foreign ministry is considering continuing the activities around the name issue even though there is uncertainty in the country due to the political crisis in Macedonia and the elections in 2016.
Greek foreign policy towards Macedonia considers implementing and expanding the measures designed to build trust, which were agreed and signed upon during the Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotsias in Skopje.
The cooperation will intensify further with the upcoming visit by the Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki to Athens this fall, after he received an invitation from his Greek counterpart.
However, in addition to the confidence-building steps, the meeting in Athens is expected to address the name conflict, which due to political turmoil in both countries, has remained shelved.
About the name issue and its potential solution, the Greek side is planning to hear the stance of Bulgaria. In that regard, the Greek paper To Vima, citing diplomatic sources, reports that the Greek negotiator Adamantios Vasilakis had visited Sofia and had discussed with diplomats there.
Unofficially, Vasilakis has recently had talks with the mediator Matthew Nimetz, where he presented the idea that the potential interim government of Macedonia should enter discussions in resolving the name issue.
M. P.