Macedonia president urges name row compromise with Greece

(SKOPJE) - Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski on Thursday called for a compromise to be found with Greece over a 17-year-old name dispute that has blocked his country's EU and NATO integration.

"We should try to solve and not to delay the dispute with Greece," Crvenkovski said in an annual address to parliament.

"We should find a compromise that will protect our national identity, to defend the name of our nation and our language as Macedonian, but at the same time to open doors to enter into NATO and the EU," he said.

Greece and Macedonia have been in dispute over the right to the name Macedonia -- which is shared by a northern Greek province -- since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.

In April, Greece used its veto to block an invitation for Skopje to join NATO and has been threatening to prevent Macedonia's integration into the European Union.

"There is no serious alternative to Macedonia's future other than integrating into NATO and the EU," Crvenkovski said.

In November, Macedonia launched a complaint before the International Court of Justice against Greece for breaching a UN-backed agreement in the name row linked to its NATO membership.

Macedonia was recognised by the United Nations two years later under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

More than 120 nations, including the United States and Russia, have recognised the landlocked Balkan country under its constitutional name of the Republic of Macedonia.

UN-led negotiations on the name dispute have so far been fruitless.