Greek Foreign Ministry Slams Reports On FYROM EU Accession

Coat of arms of Greece. (credit: Wikipedia)

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gregory Delavekouras slammed press reports in Saturday's Greek and Skopje press concerning the FYROM name issue and the opening of EU accession negotiations with FYROM.

In a statement released early on Saturday Delavekouras said that: “as for the ‘leak’ in today’s Skopje press concerning the content of the most recent ideas from Mr. Nimetz, we make it clear that Greece received no such ideas and we repudiate the contents of the article categorically. The content of the Nimetz ideas bears no relation to what is reported in the article. What’s more, the ideas described in the article would be totally outside the framework Greece has set and could not be up for discussion.

As to the content of the article in today’s Athens press, alleging that Greece intends to consent to the opening of FYROM accession negotiations with the EU without the prior resolution of the name issue, we make it clear that this does not correspond the reality of the situation.

Greece’s stance remains firm and consistent: that compliance with all the conditions and criteria that have been set by unanimous decisions of the EU is a necessary prerequisite for the opening of accession negotiations. Uppermost among these conditions is respect for good neighbourly relations, which means the finding of a mutually acceptable solution to the name issue.”