RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY

RADIO FREE EUROPE/ RADIO LIBERTY: "MACEDONIA WARNS AGAINST NATIONALISM IN GREEK ELECTIONS
Macedonia's foreign minister, Antonio Milososki, suggested on May 22 that a recent, renewed threat by Greece to veto Macedonia's bid for EU and NATO membership is linked to upcoming Greek parliamentary elections. In comments carried on May 22 by the news agency MIA, Milososki described Greece as being in a pre-election state and predicted that populist efforts will ensure that the dispute over Macedonia's name figures prominently in the campaign. Elections in Greece are schedule for March 2008, but there is speculation they could be brought forward to this autumn. Milososki was responding to a demand by Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on May 21 that Macedonia 'abandon its intransigence.' Karamanlis said Greece, as an EU and NATO member, could block Macedonia's accession bids. Milososki rejected Greece's claim, saying 'we have made several concessions in the past 15 years, showing a large dose of constructiveness.' He added that it was Greece that rejected the latest proposal by a UN special envoy, Matthew Nimitz, while Macedonia accepted it (see 'RFE/RL Newsline,' May 18, 2007). Greece and Macedonia resumed UN-mediated talks on May 16, but the proposal mentioned by Milososki probably dates back to 2005 when Nimitz proposed that countries who currently recognize Macedonia by its constitutional name, the"