France Not Pleased With Deadlock in Greek-FYROM Talks - Why?

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The French government recently expressed its regret over the deadlock in talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in regards to the name dispute. France's permanent delegation at the United Nations made the statement following a two-hour meeting between negotiators of the two countries and the UN Secretary-General's special envoy for the name dispute Matthew Nimetz.

In a statement that was dispatched in Greece by the state news agency, France noted that this deadlock was "harmful for good neighbour relations in the region" and expressed its support for Nimetz's efforts to find a mutually acceptable solution to the dispute, stressing that this must be found soon under UN auspices, through dialogue and compromise.

(France however forgets that in order for Greece to reach an agreement with FYROM, the Skopje government has to stop provoking our national sentiment, stop erecting statues in its city square that mimic Greek history, stop publishing maps that show it has territorial claims on Greece's Macedonia region, and stop breaching the interim agreement that was signed between the two nations in the mid 90s.)

On his part, Nimetz said that the effort to find a solution will continue and that the April document presented to the two sides "is still on the table", nonetheless he noted that there were still serious differences between the two sides and that a discussion had taken place with both parties concerning the next steps but no decision had been made on what these steps will be.

Finally, -and most importantly- he pointed out that the UN could not "unlock" doors for other organisation and bodies.

     "Obviously there is interest for FYROM to progress in its relations with the EU and NATO. I would like to point out that the goal of the entire area is to join the EU and the Atlantic Alliance. I hope that at some point we will resolve the issue of the name. What NATO and the EU will do is not something that we can control or on which we are negotiating," he said.

France's stance is indeed suspicious, because it is the one nation that has always defended and understood Greece and its people (or at least it did under the Sarkozy government). Thankfully, Nimetz finally realized that the resolution of the issue of the name proceeds FYROM's accession to the EU and to NATO.

(Question: Then why didn't Nimetz realize this back in 2008 when Costas Karamanlis metaphorically vetoed FYROM's accession to NATO, basically claiming the same thing?)