"Macedonia won't be bought"

Macedonia has rejected Greece's offer to finance building of the Corridor 10 highway and scrap visas, in return for Skopje agreeing to an acceptable solution for its name. “It is easy for Greece to boast with foreign European money. Our response is that we’re no merchants, we are Macedonians and remain Macedonians, and that doesn’t depend on Greek money,” said Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Miloshoski. "Macedonia won't be bought" Greece opposes the constitutional name, Macedonia, because it believes that it presents territorial claims to its own northern region that bears the same name. The dispute between Athens and Skopje has been going on for 17 years, and was the reason Greece blocked Macedonian efforts to receive an invitation for NATO membership at the Alliance’s summit in Bucharest earlier this month. Miloshoski added that Macedonia was continuing its road towards Euro-Atlantic integration, and confirmation of this, as the foreign minister said, was the proposed signing of a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on May 7 in Washington. The Macedonian ambassador to the U.S. Zoran Jolevski said today that Macedonia and the U.S. would sign a bilateral military-technical agreement on May 7 whereby Washington would “guarantee the security of Macedonia.” The U.S. has presented a military-technical agreement as a guarantee for Macedonian security until it becomes a NATO member.

"Macedonia won't be bought"

Greece opposes the constitutional name, Macedonia, because it believes that it presents territorial claims to its own northern region that bears the same name.

The dispute between Athens and Skopje has been going on for 17 years, and was the reason Greece blocked Macedonian efforts to receive an invitation for NATO membership at the Alliance’s summit in Bucharest earlier this month.

Miloshoski added that Macedonia was continuing its road towards Euro-Atlantic integration, and confirmation of this, as the foreign minister said, was the proposed signing of a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on May 7 in Washington.

The Macedonian ambassador to the U.S. Zoran Jolevski said today that Macedonia and the U.S. would sign a bilateral military-technical agreement on May 7 whereby Washington would “guarantee the security of Macedonia.”

The U.S. has presented a military-technical agreement as a guarantee for Macedonian security until it becomes a NATO member.