EU/FYROM : ATHENS AND SKOPJE TO REVIVE NAME DISPUTE TALKS.

• Position: Brief article

The decision by Greece and Macedonia to reopen talks at the end of January on their long-standing name dispute' may now yield a breakthrough. A solution to this bilateral row, dating back to 1991, is seen as key to unlocking Skopje's EU and NATO accession bids.

Matthew Nimetz, the United Nations-appointed mediator in the dispute between Athens and Skopje, will meet official representatives of the two sides in New York, on January 27. Over a year has passed since the sides' last meeting. Both countries say they are ready for a compromise solution. "We believe a solution will be found and that is why we are taking part in the process," Macedonia's President Gjorge Ivanov has said commenting on the meeting.

Greece has prevented the international recognition of Macedonia under its constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, since 1991, arguing that it belongs exclusively to the Greek national heritage. Two years after gaining its independence, in 1993, Macedonia was admitted to the UN under the temporary name of the former Yugoslav Republic of...