Greek To Vima daily writes that the Greek Government will not accept a NATO membership for Macedonia under the interim reference name “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, as provided in the 1995 Interim Accord. According to the unnamed sources To Vima quotes, allowing such an option would mean that Macedonia would de-facto have two names, an option Greece wants to avoid by insisting on one changed name that would be used in all circumstances, domestically and internationally.
Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Dimitrov further confused the political scene with his interview for the Financial Times, in which he said that Macedonia was considering changing its name to join NATO, only to demand a retraction from the newspaper. In the second version of the article, Dimitrov is quoted saying that Macedonia wants to join NATO under the interim reference and not under a new name. This has been the long standing position of the Macedonian Government and Macedonia successfully sued Greece before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to put pressure on Greece to do just that, but Greece has failed to implement the verdict.
Dimitrov is due in Athens on Wednesday, after a round of meetings in Brussels on Monday where he accompanies Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
