Greece should also demonstrate readiness for a compromise in the name dispute, German President Horst Koehler said in Skopje yesterday. The German president, who is on a three-day official visit to Macedonia, appealed "to the Greek Government to demonstrate readiness for a compromise so that we can say in a few months that the name dispute has been resolved".

Koehler stressed after the meeting with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski that Germany is very sorry that Macedonia did not receive an invitation for membership in NATO, "but we will continue to strongly support the efforts aimed at resolving this issue". The German president did not say whether Germany and the other big European countries would assume a concrete initiative to help resolve this dispute, commenting that these talks are led under the auspices of the United Nations. Koehler only stated briefly, "the European Union has its own interest for this issue to be resolved".