The U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Saturday to encourage him to achieve a solution in decades old naming dispute with FYROM.
In a statement by the White House, Pence expressed appreciation on efforts to resolve the dispute and encouraged Tsipras to continue working with his FYROM counterpart.
“Resolution of this issue would promote stability and peace in the region,” Pence told Tsipras.
The statement by the White House:
“Vice President Mike Pence spoke today with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to express appreciation for his leadership, along with that of Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, on efforts towards resolving the longstanding name dispute. They agreed that the parties have an historic opportunity to resolve this issue and that time is of the essence. The Vice President encouraged Prime Minister Tsipras to continue working with Prime Minister Zaev on a mutually-acceptable agreement. Resolution of this issue would promote stability and peace in the region.”
Government sources in Athens say that Tsipras reiterated to the American Vice President that Greece is seeking a solution to the bilateral dispute and the key lies in finding a mutually-accepted name that must be erga omnes, i.e. used by all countries for all purposes.
The Vice President’s phone call comes as Greece’s opposition parties unanimously rejected a proposal tabled by Skopje for the name “Republic of Ilinden Macedonia” .
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