Macedonia News : Delavekouras urges FYROM to grow up and become sincere interlocutor

in Macedonian news / by D-Mak / on July 20, 2012 at 6:26 pm /

Briefing of diplomatic correspondents by Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras

S. RISTOVSKA: Mr. Spokesman, Mr. Vassilakis will be meeting with Mr. Nimetz in Thessaloniki next week. What does Greece expect from this meeting? Whether you are optimistic that we might see some development on the name issue, or whether you expect some proposal. Thank you.

G. DELAVEKOURAS: As you know, the UN Secretary General has decided to carry out a tour of the countries of the former Yugoslavia – a tour that we consider very important, precisely because we need to send the message, and I believe that this message will be sent by the UN, that the Balkans are leaving the past behind, the past of nationalism and conflicts, and moving ahead to a new page in their history, a page of cooperation and development.

We believe that the UN will send precisely this message, and it is the message that Greece will support. The UN Secretary General will visit FYROM and will be accompanied on that part of his trip by his personal envoy Mr. Nimetz.

If on one day you attack Greece in the harshest of terms, the next day you make cooperation proposals, and the day after you again attack Greece – while at no time in this process making a substantial move towards the negotiations, a move of compromise on the name issue – we obviously won’t move towards a solution.

Greece has invited Mr. Nimetz to visit Thessaloniki afterwards for a meeting with our representative, Mr. Vassilakis, for a briefing on what Mr. Nimetz meets with in Skopje. We are firmly dedicated to the achievement of a solution. We want a solution and we want one as soon as possible. But it needs to be clear that this can only be achieved in terms of substance, and not in communication terms.

If on one day you attack Greece in the harshest of terms, the next day you make cooperation proposals, and the day after you again attack Greece – while at no time in this process say towards the negotiations, a move of compromise on the name issue – we obviously won’t move towards a solution.

If we are to reach a solution, both sides need to sit at the table and be determined to reach a mutually acceptable result. Greece has taken huge steps toward achieving this. What we are waiting for is for a similar move to be made by the government of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

I hope this will be the message conveyed by Mr. Nimetz after the UN officials’ meetings in Skopje. But I can’t say that I am optimistic that this will be the message.

We are ready and willing, but we need a sincere collocutor who truly wants to make progress. Let’s hope that we will have positive messages. As you know, we support the UN process and we are working to achieve a mutually acceptable solution. Let’s wait and see whether we have a collocutor.

source: mfa.gr