Greece has other priorities and is not interested in the name issue settlement at the moment, says Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki.

Poposki says in a Radio Free Europe interview that Macedonia has attempted to introduce some dynamics to the process and is interested in Athens' reaction.

"In fact, we are now more interested in what Athens will say, since Greece is the reason why Macedonia has not been able to launch EU accession talks for several years, despite the EC recommendations. We have tried to bring certain dynamics to the UN-led process. We expect to raise the level of talks, involving the countries' prime ministers, along with increased political commitment, so that Macedonia is no longer kept hostage in the region's Euro-integration process", stresses FM Poposki.

Pertaining to possible pressure from the U.S. and European partners for acceleration of the talks and sooner settlement of the issue, he says Macedonia cannot make a step forward without a similar one from Athens, whereas pressure on Greece is only declarative.

"The pressure is put only on Macedonia because it is a small country outside of NATO and EU, while pressure on Greece is only declarative, exercised through communiques, which results in their comfort. Greece's current priority is the economic crisis and their government is not interested or motivated to deal with the name issue", underlines FM Poposki.