The truth be told, never in the past had the FYROM naming issue come so close to a solution. At the same time, however, the solution is distant.

It is distant in the sense that a series of problems must be transcended, and a number of pitfalls must be avoided.

Many fronts remain open, on both sides of the border.

In FYROM, the nationalist opposition has not said its last word, and the government appears divided over domestic use of the new name.
Meanwhile, our government made the mistake at the beginning of negotiations of using the issue to divide the opposition, instead of bringing it on board, in a difficult affair.

At the same time, the majority of public opinion does not appear prepared to acquiesce to any use of the name Macedonia by Skopje, and the positions of the two ruling collation partners are diametrically opposed.

All this is material for a potentially explosive mixture, along with foreign geopolitical actors.

For this reason, it is necessary for the next steps to be taken cautiously and in a spirit of cooperation, rather than the usual political recriminations, which may serve the interests of parties, but directly threaten the national interest.