Name issue cannot hinder Macedonia's EU membership talks, says MEP

[poiuytrewq0987]

President of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Johannes Swoboda said that the European Union must not allow the name issue between Macedonia and Greece to take root and to hinder Macedonia's negotiations with the organisation.

Speaking to Macedonian news agency MIA's correspondent in Strasbourg, MEP Swoboda said that both parties could be criticised in the name row, because the Macedonian side "is not doing what it was supposed to do regarding the matter" and on the other hand "the Greeks are not so innocent either." He told MIA: "If Greece was in a better economic state, the European Council and the European Commission next year would have to re-launch the initiative of finding a solution in a mode in which both sides would sit on the same table to find a solution to the name row, thus enabling EU membership talks to start despite the name differences."

According to him, Greece first of all needs to have a premier, who is on a sick leave, while the country also faces other issues.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n282201

[Onur]

This is pure hypocrisy.

It`s the EU`s big guns who allows Greece to do that because it`s %100 certain that Greece cannot do any of this without the allowance of Brussels. I mean if EU would like to start negotiations with Macedonia, just one phone call from Brussels or Angela Merkel would be enough to shut the big mouth of Athens. They don't do that, so it means that they are OK with hostile actions of Athens towards Macedonia.

Also, Greek Cyprus took the presidency this month and they will decide the program of Brussels `till 2013. So, Macedonia shouldn't expect anything positive from EU `till 2013.