The participants in the debate on Euro-Atlantic integration that took place in London Tuesday, organized by the European Council for Foreign Affairs, called for greater flexibility from Macedonia and Greece in the resolution of the name issue.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki took part in the debate as well. He talked about the effort that Macedonia was making as regards the process of Euro-Atlantic integration, the name issue with its southern neighbor and the situation at home. According to Poposki, there are two myths related to Macedonia. The first, dating back to Macedonia’s independence, is that the country has territorial claims which conflicts with the fact about the connections between the citizens of the two countries and the economic cooperation with Greece. The second is related to the integration into the EU and NATO, which, however, is backed by 90 percent of the population. The years-long delay of opening membership negotiations with the EU, according to Poposki, contributed only to diminishing people’s faith.

A representative of the British Foreign Office conveyed the support from London for Macedonia’s integration into the EU and NATO, saying that is also the objective of Great Britain considering that in that way regional prosperity and security would be ensured. He said that despite the situation in Greece the dispute should be resolved through a dialogue and that the resolution depended on both parties.

Macedonia should have been a NATO member state by now, said former NATO Secretary General George Robertson, who called for greater readiness for a compromise from Athens and Skopje in order to seek out a solution to the name issue.