The European Union's foreign ministers are meeting today (7 December) in Brussels to decide the next steps on the integration of EU hopefuls. But leading MEP Eduard Kukan told EurActiv that he is "sceptical" regarding the outcome on Macedonia, a result of what he described as Greece's unwillingess to compromise over the so-called 'name dispute'.

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Foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels for a two-day meeting, which for the first time will be called by two new titles, the 'General Affairs Council' and 'Foreign Affairs Council' (GAC & FAC), replacing the previous 'General Affairs and External Relations' (GAERC) Council. The changes are prompted by the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and the advent of an EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security.

The meetings, which will be chaired by the Swedish EU Presidency, will prepare for the 10-11 December EU summit, where decisions on enlargement issues are expected to be taken, among other topics such as the Copenhagen climate talks. In particular, Macedonia hopes to be given a date for starting accession negotiations (EurActiv 23/10/09), Serbia hopes that the entry into force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement will be unblocked so it can hand in its membership application (EurActiv 03/11/09), and Turkey expects that its stalled EU accession negotiations to benefit from a new push (EurActiv 24/11/09).

Kukan, a former long-serving foreign minister of Slovakia who now chairs the European Parliament's delegation for relations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, told EurActiv that he was worried that a possible Greek veto of Skopje's bid would "backfire badly on the internal political situation in Macedonia".

The MEP also warned Macedonia against resorting to nationalism in the event of a Greek veto during the summit. Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's government has very strong popular support, he said.

"This could be used in two directions: either to approve the brave, courageous political decisions on the name issues, or exacerbate nationalism," he said.

While acknowledging that Macedonia had resorted to provocation, Kukan mainly blamed Greece for the lack of progress in the 'name dispute'.

The former foreign minister said he had an excellent opinion of new Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whom he called "the most reasonable Greek politician".

"If there is no progress under Papandreou, I really don't know how we can resolve the name issue," he said.

To read the full text of the interview, please click here.

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