According to the Greek daily Kathimerini, the chance to resolve the name dispute is between the end of the local elections in Macedonia in October and the beginning of a campaign for presidential elections next year.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias arrives in Skopje on August 31, Greek daily Kathimerini announced today. The purpose of the visit, the newspaper announced, is to investigate the intentions of the new government in Skopje. Until then, the Social Democrat-led government will complete the first 100 days in power, and Athens wants to check whether the declarations of the new leadership on the need for mutual compromises are more than words. The new government in Macedonia wishes to receive confirmation of the NATO membership invitation that would be effective at the beginning or mid-next year with a formal reception. The main obstacle on that road remains Greece, which since 2008 blocked the reception due to the unresolved name dispute.
Kathimerini writes that the authorities in Athens are still aware that the progress on the dispute will not be possible in a short period of time.
The same newspaper also transfers estimates from the United States, without saying a source, that the prospect of progress in the negotiations for resolving the dispute is seen in the period from the end of the local elections in Macedonia in October, to the pre-election campaign for the presidential election in 2019 Year.
Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov made his first visit after taking office in Athens in mid-June this year. She was announced as an attempt to open a new chapter in relations between the two countries, according to Deutsche Welle.
