The president of opposition SDSM party, Zoran Zaev, has expressed his stance on the name issue between Macedonia and Greece for the first time after the start of the political crisis, Telegraf.mk reads.
In his interview for Serbia BETA news agency, Zaev said Macedonia is making provocations to Greece and that Skopje needs to make concessions in order to find a solution for this matter.
The timing when Zaev decided to comment on the issue is perplexing, as it is very sensitive for the Macedonian people. For a longer period of time, speculations have been circling that the crisis was set up, and its ultimate goal is the international factor to exert pressure over the Macedonian authorities to agree on changing the name.
"The first step is to end the provocations, to extend a helping hand and to start intensive talks. Greece can survive with this kind of problems for another 200 years. We want to be EU and NATO members. Without a solution to this problem we can't enter NATO and EU," Zaev told BETA, according to Vecernje Novosti daily.
It is unclear where Zaev sees the possibility for reaching a compromise between Macedonia and Greece, having into consideration that Athens pressures for a name of general use and an introduction of a change to the Constitution.
On the top of it, Greece demands a change to the identity-relates issues, such as those concerning the language and the nation, and the use of the term 'Macedonians'.