Utrinski Vesnik: Name dispute almost solved during Ljubco Georgievski’s government

in Articles, FAQ on Macedonian Issue, FYROM news, FYROM Propaganda, Greece, newspapers, Skopjan Propaganda, skopje / by History / on October 16, 2009 at 4:21 am /

Utrinski Vesnik: Name dispute almost solved during Ljubco Georgievski’s government

16 October 2009 | 12:38 | FOCUS News Agency

Skopje. “Upper Macedonia” – this is the name offered by the Greek diplomacy to the “Macedonian” delegation at the meeting in the time between the Kosovo crisis in 1999 and the one in “Macedonia” in 2001, “Macedonian” Utrinski Vesnik writes.
According to a high-ranking functionary of the government of former Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, right after the abovementioned meeting, the “Upper Macedonia” proposal was introduced to the political circles in Skopje and certain media but the reaction turned to be unsatisfying.
“We were attacked from all sides”, the anonymous source says. The man reminded that at that time the PASOK party was in power, with Prime Minister Costas Simitis, and the contacts between Skopje and Athens used to be very intensive, the name issue was often tabled for discussion but without any tension and conditions.
At that time there was a serious twist and a step forward on behalf of Athens, which up to then used to use names as “Slav-Macedonians” and “New Macedonians”. The idea to add a geographic term to the name also emerged at that time, the Utrinski Vesnik says.
At that time, the “Macedonian” prime minister considered the “Upper Macedonia” proposal a good basis for further negotiations but because of the sharp reaction in Skopje everything ended up without any epilog, the newspaper says.