FYROM news: Junior Party's Diplomacy Annoys FYROM Leaders

FYROM’s ruling VMRO DPMNE party is unhappy with the recent diplomatic efforts of its junior Albanian partner - whose leader recently met Bulgarian leaders and urged intensified name talks with Greece.

Unnamed sources in FYROM's main ruling party told Balkan Insight that while in Bulgaria, Ali Ahmeti, head of the junior ruling Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, had acted without the government’s consent.

Earlier this week,  Ahmeti met Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski and Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin, discussing efforts to boost good neighbourliness.


This came after Bulgaria last autumn joined Greece "in blocking"  FYROM’s EU accession bid. Bulgaria has insisted on the signing of a good neighbourliness deal.

But what upset the main ruling party most were Ahmeti's remarks regarding the country's longstanding dispute with Greece over its name.

Ahmeti revealed that the latest proposal for solving the Greek-FYROM dispute was to name the country “Northern Republic of Macedonia”.

This is the first time that a senior politician had revealed the proposed name that UN mediator Matthew Nimetz offered in April.

“Now we have a concrete proposal, "Upper Republic of Macedonia", and now is the time to intensify [name] talks,” Ahmeti said in Sofia.

The official from VMRO DPMNE told Balkan Insight on condition of anonymity that they were “not very happy” with Ahmeti’s remarks.

 “I fail to see how Ahmeti’s ‘solo’ effort could help the process of seeking a 'name' solution,”  the official told Balkan Insight, “unless he is acting under instructions from abroad, as his statement recalls those usually given by US and EU officials.”

The government in a press release said that it did not wish to discuss “speculation and details” about the name proposal in order not to obstruct the UN-led negotiations.

For years Greece has "blocked"  FYROM’s Euro-Atlantic integration process over the unresolved name issue.
Greece insists that FYROM’s name implies territorial claims to its own northern province,  called Macedonia.

In April, coinciding with the release of the latest European Commission special report on FYROM, the UN mediator in the name talks, Nimetz, tabled a fresh proposal.

Nimetz refused to divulge his suggested formula but media reports speculated that it contained some version of the words “Upper Macedonia”. Both Skopje and Athens remained silent about it.

FYROM’s former Foreign Minister, Denko Maleski, said Ahmeti’s statement added to the pressure on Gruevski’s government to accept a compromise.

Gruevski is often accused of being rigid regarding the name issue.

“The DUI is promoting an alternative policy of dialogue that corresponds with the demands of the United States and the European Union, as well as the opposition, for a swift solution. This is contrary to VMRO DPMNE’s strategy of stalling,” Maleski told Utrinski Vesnik.

Maleski says the DUI’s conduct may chill government relations as the DUI is now actively helping to “tighten the ring around the ruling nationalists who are under international and domestic pressure to swiftly find a [name] compromise”.
 Sinisa Jakov Marusic, BalkanInsight 13/7/13

  ***(After the necessary corrections with the name "FYROM".  

GREECE recognised this country with the name "FYROM")

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Related:

 

• FYROM News: Leader of DUI comes up with a proposal for the new name: "The Upper Republic of Macedonia" 

• Αλί Αχμέτι: Οι ΗΠΑ προτρέπουν τα Σκόπια (FYROM) να εντατικοποιήσουν τις προσπάθειες για το θέμα της ονομασίας

• Η Σόφια επιμένει για διμερή. ΠΡΟΚΕΙΜΕΝΟΥ ΝΑ ΣΤΗΡΙΞΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗ ΠΟΡΕΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΠΓΔΜ

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