Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski believes it is good that mediator Matthew Nimetz comes to Macedonia and Greece, but what remains to be seen is who he will meet in Athens and whether talks will have some essence.

Gruevski has still not received a response to the letter addressed to Greek counterpart Lucas Papademos, which indicates that the neighboring country has no interest in solving the name issue.

"I have still not received a response to the letter. This indicates the lack of any interest from Greece over the issue's settlement. As I have said on several occasions, the country is entirely oriented on other matters and it is not interested in solving this problem. They simply do not want to solve it, and when this is the case, they do not want meetings, they hold meetings if they have to, they do not want the mediator to pay a visit, they receive him if they must. Therefore, Greece clearly demonstrates that it wants to delay the problem's settlement, i.e. not solve it", said PM Gruevski after Thursday's opening of a boxing hall in Skopje-based sports center "Boris Trajkovski".

According to him, this Greek position is creating problems to the entire region.

"On one hand they talk about agenda 2014 and pushing all Balkan countries into the EU, but on the other they halt Macedonia's NATO and EU accession, thus harming the country but also themselves. I don't know if they are aware of it, but time will tell they harm the entire region. If there is no response from a PM of a neighboring country for 3-4 weeks, this is a sufficient indicator over the lack of interest and the resolve to delay the matter", stressed Gruevski.

With regards to Nimetz's visit, he said Macedonia's invitation was open for more than a year, but the UN envoy had problems in obtaining consent from the Greek side.

"Following efforts and most probably pressure by the international community, as well as many calls on our part, the other side decided to receive Nimetz. It remains to be seen whom he will meet and whether talks will have any essence. If we take into account Greece's steps thus far by avoiding meetings and halting the process, there is not much room for optimism. However, we must continue to fight and seek for a solution, work together with the international community in finding a solution and convincing Greece this is harmful for everyone, including itself. We need to solve the issue and bring Macedonia into NATO and start EU accession talks, which are directly and clearly obstructed by Greece", underlined PM Gruevski.