The last proposal of UN mediator Matthew Nimetz sets a solid base for finding a solution to the name dispute with Greece, but Athens doesn't wish to offer an official response to it, Macedonia's Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki tells the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Thus far, Macedonia has demonstrated great flexibility in favor of settling the row, the Deutsche Welle cites Poposki. In this respect he mentions the changes to Macedonia's Constitution, flag, the country's accession to the UN under the interim reference. However, Greece keeps hampering Macedonia's accession to NATO and the European Union, the FM says.

"Other proposals were also presented, such as the Republic of Macedonia - Skopje, which we offered to call a referendum for, but Greece rejected it as well. Hence, it may be concluded that the two parties don't share the same interest in settling the dispute," Poposki says.

He refutes the conclusion of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung's journalist that Macedonia has also made moves that may not be considered as a promotion of good-neighbourliness (renaming of the Skopje Airport, the monument of Alexander the Great), saying that the International Court of Justice has already ruled that such actions didn't undermine the agreements between the two countries.

"Greece was blocking us even before the airport renaming and the monument's erection. Greeks always come up with excuses to block us. Maybe one day some of their excuses will refer to the colour of my necktie," Poposki says.

Furthermore, Poposki rejects the journalist's suggestion that the "nationalistic policy doesn’t contribute to the coexistence in the country and alienates ethnic Albanians".

"As a result of Greece's blockade the citizens of Macedonia feel that they get unfair, non-democratic treatment. The EU, NATO membership will enable us to focus on the priority tasks - economy, internal market and maintaining of good inter-ethnic relations. Without that all possible cultural, ethnic or religious differences come to the surface. There are people who try to take advantage of such developments," Poposki says.

He accepts the fact that the events of 24 December at the Parliament were not in favor of the country's democracy. However, they are part of the learning process, the FM says.

"I was not proud of the behaviour pf some MPs during those events. But, it is part of a learning process. We are a young democracy. We must do more to establish a culture of respecting different opinions, cultures. It is encouraging that for a very short time we have managed to debate about the different opinions in a democratic spirit. It is also recognized by the European Commission, which therefore has been confirming the status of (EU) candidate country for five years in a row," Poposki says.