“We needed to stay up late last night and continue today,” said Greek PM Alexis Tsipras from Sofia, referring to his talks with FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
Mr. Tsipras said that any agreement should respect the cultural heritage and tradition of the two peoples by making an indirect reference to the cultural heritage and tradition of FYROM. It should be noted that the supposed “Macedonian” identity is a delicate point in the negotiations, with FYROM pushing for a recognition of their self-proclaimed identity and language.

“To separate Greek Macedonia from the country that was later created”, Mr Tsipras said.
“I think we have covered a great part of the distance, we are looking at the details step by step,” continued Mr. Tsipras for the talks he had with Mr. Zaev.

He went on to add that there would further steps with the aim of meeting again at the start of next month, stressing that the goal was to reach a resolution on the name dispute within the next month.

Mr Tsipras said they wanted to reach a deal before the June Summit of the EU, sparking rumours of a possible final agreement with Skopje on the settlement of the name issue of FYROM.