Athens , 17 November 2008

                 Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr. George Koumoutsakos made the following statement with regard to FYROM’s instituting proceeding before to the International Court of Justice:

“Mr. Gruevski’s government, after having rejected the recent set of ideas put forward by the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for the name issue, Ambassador M. Nimetz, today continued his delaying tactics, by instituting proceedings at the International Court of Justice regarding an alleged violation on the part of Greece of article 11 of the 1995 Interim Accord.   

It initiated this action, concealing the fact that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia itself had earlier flagrantly violated a series of fundamental articles/obligations explicitly foreseen in this Accord, but also the fundamental principle of good neighbourly relations.

In the course of the judicial process, we will have the opportunity to submit documents and memos, analyzing Greece’s positions on the undisguised and continuous violations of the Interim Accord by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

With this action, the government of Skopje once again reaffirms that it is not interested in a swift resolution of the dispute on the issue of the country’s definitive name, as explicitly stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 845 of 1993.

Greece will participate in this process in a self-confident and determined manner representative of the comprehensiveness, clarity and substance of its arguments.

Irrespective of the abovementioned developments, Greece remains committed to the UN negotiating process aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable solution on the name issue. It further firmly stands by its well-known positions.”