Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras turned down last week a proposal by the Prime Minister of FYROM Nikola Gruevski to set up two working groups led by the two Prime Ministers in order to seek a settlement in the ongoing name issue negotiations, together with the UN’s special envoy, Matthew Nimetz.
Mr Samaras said that he saw no point in setting up yet another mechanism, arguing that reaching a settlement requires political will and a real solution.
He also went on to say that “if both parts involved had shown the same political will, the same political courage and the same desire for a solution, this issue would have been solved long ago”.
The response of the Greek Prime Minister was criticised by Gjorge Ivanov, President of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).