All we ask is that Fyrom travel the rest of the distance.
LAST week's column dealt with the arcane name squabble between Macedonia (aka FYROM) and Greece.
Macedonia's foreign minister, Nikola Poposki, is in Washington this week to make the case for Fyrom.
The government in Skopje offers to join as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a mouthful it uses in some international forums.Not enough, says the Greek foreign minister, Dora Bakoyiannis, "FYROM is not a serious name".
At issue are not the Greek Macedonians in FYROM, or vice versa: there are none — or next to none.
The so-called "spat" between Greece and Fyrom over the latter's name is not some childish argument.
While Macedonia wants to be known as the Republic of Macedonia Greecee insists on the clunky 'Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia', or Fyrom for short.
Greece still refuses Macedonia the right to use its name in international forums, obliging the country to use the acronym FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).
In many international fora, such as the EU, Greece has been able to impose the use of the clunky formulation "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM).
But Greece's northern neighbour (FYROM to Greeks, Macedonia to most of the rest of the world) seems to be keen too.
One hundred fifteen members of the United States House of Representatives co-sponsored H.R. 356, asking Fyrom to "stop hostile activities and propaganda against Greece".
