Resolving the name issue will take five years or maybe more, said Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski in an interview with the German paper Die Welt. Therefore, he says, he went to Germany to meet Chancellor Merkel in order to seek assistance and support for Macedonia’s membership of the EU and NATO.

“Our admission to NATO and the EU has been delayed for too long because of the name issue. This is vitally important to our economy as well as for the peace in the Western Balkans. I am here to seek support from Chancellor Angela Merkel for our important national agenda,” says Prime Minister Gruevski.