The former Prime Minister of Greece, who put the proposal for the addition of Northern Macedonia on the table, such as erga omnes, does not exclude another similar geographical addition. There is no mood in the current Greek government Macedonia in NATO to be received with the reference FYROM.
In an interview that Gorazd Chomovski made for the tonight's edition of Factor magazine on TV 24, Giorgos A. Papandreou is reminded that he had a dozen meetings with ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
"Whenever we meet, in Brussels, at conferences, I remember when we were in Libya, we sit down and invested a lot of efforts to find a common solution, acceptable for two sides. For me, it was not a protocol. It was a real attempt to find a solution. Unfortunately, such a thing did not happen. I do not know whether there was political will by Gruevski, but I still hope. "
According to ex-Greek Prime Minister and head of diplomacy, the government in Athens is not ready to join Macedonia with NATO's current reference FYROM.
"I think holding the temporary name will only keep the problem. I hope there is a good mood on the Greek side. I am not part of the Greek government and I am not speaking on behalf of the government, but I believe that the government is willing to find a solution. The longer we avoid finding a solution, the more difficult it will be. You do not want this name, we do not say that we love that name. Why not find something that is acceptable to both sides? "
... "The problem with the symbols is that they often have their origins in history, mythology. Part of it is history. That is true. We had civil wars, we had world wars. In those times, the Macedonian issue was current. We say the following. To put history back in, we know what history is, but we need to make sure that in the future there will be no claims for Big ... We had claims for Greater Serbia, Greater Albania, Greater Greece, Greater Macedonia. We have to move away from such a thing. I think we want to solve this issue. Finding a solution to this issue would be very important. I say this because ... let's look at the positive sides. Both countries have many things in common. We have common economic interests. We work together. For years we have been making big investments. We have cultural and religious links that exist for centuries. We have common defensive interests. We have to solve regional issues together. The whole Balkans, especially the Western Balkans, is reopening. We want to make real progress towards European structures. We hope that the crisis will come out stronger. It is in the interest of both sides to solve this problem. Imagine our countries cooperate intensely. Not only for our two countries, but for the whole region. Can you imagine what kind of message we will bring to the world, the region and the EU? "
