Greek PM Samaras rejects invitation to meeting with Macedonian counterpart

By bne IntelliNews July 18, 2013

Greece’s PM Antonis Samaras has responded negatively to the letter of his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski, who sought a meeting over the dispute about Macedonia’s name, Dnevnik daily reported.

Gruevski also proposed that the two countries assign teams, led by the PMs, dedicated to finding a solution to the dispute. So far, the two countries have held name issue talks through their negotiators, Zoran Jolevski (Macedonia) and Adamantios Vassilakis (Greece).

However, Samaras allegedly said that the high-level meetings are not necessary because Macedonia’s EU integration is not blocked by Greece, but by the EU itself, the daily reports.

The unresolved name dispute is a key obstacle on Macedonia’s road to full EU and NATO membership.

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