Macedonian and Greek list of proposed measures to build confidence have similar items and ideas. This was stated by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kodzias after his meetings with the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the mediator in the name dispute Matthew Nimetz in New York. Kodzias repeated Greek willingness to resume talks, but also noted that irredentist tendencies of the Macedonian side are hiding behind the name dispute.
As Kodzias emphasized, with Nimetz, he discussed the negotiations on the name dispute. Greek Foreign Minister informed the mediator for the new moment, i.e. talks between the two governments for potential adoption of measures to build confidence.
Kodzias emphasized that, in the past few days, they reviewed the Macedonian proposals and realized that the list of the Macedonian government has common points and proposals with the list of suggestions of the Greek side. Kodzias reminded that the first discussion with the Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki regarding the measures was at the meeting in Riga, adding that lists with proposals between the two sides were exchanged at the next meeting in Bucharest.
– A month ago in Riga, I met with Foreign Minister of FYROM, who has the same name as me, he is called Nikola, i.e. Nikos and I proposed him to discuss about measures to build confidence. There was no immediate response, but, at the end, the government of our neighboring country agreed to this interview. In Budapest, we exchanged catalogs with items for confidence-building measures and, as analyzed in recent days, there are similarities on certain items – emphasized Greek Foreign Minister.
Kodzias reaffirmed the will and interest of the Greek government to continue dialogue to resolve the name dispute, but he emphasized to Nimitz that he should take into account the fact that behind the dispute lies a particular kind of irredentism that makes difficult things to which the Greek government aims and wants, i.e. the restoration of good relations and trust between the two sides.
The name dispute was only briefly mentioned in the conversation with Ban Ki-moon. Kodzias noted that he talked less with Secretary General of Macedonia, adding that he assumes that Nimetz already briefed him on the Greek positions. Kodzias and Ban discussed the Cyprus issue, and generally talked about the situation with the new crisis with refugees and immigrants in the EU.
