Berlin urges Athens, Skopje to take advantage of «historic opportunity»

The German government on Monday encouraged Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) to solve all the remaining issues standing in the way of an agreement to settle a decades-old dispute regarding the latter’s name.

In a statement issued a day before Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is due to meet in Berlin with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr called on Athens and Skopje to take advantage of a “historic opportunity” for an agreement that will have a “positive effect on bilateral relations as well as on regional stability.”

Adebahr said the two foreign ministers are to discuss bilateral relations and an action plan signed between the two countries in 2016, but also international issues such as the ongoing United Nations-brokered name talks with FYROM.

The statement came a few hours after Kotzias said that talks on the foreign ministers’ level with his counterpart from Skopje, Nikola Dimitrov, have been concluded, saying a deal will come down to the prime ministers of the neighboring countries once several technical and legal issues are clarified.