NAME DISPUTE
Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski has attempted to raise the stakes in his country’s name dispute with Greece by writing to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso complaining about the plight of a “Macedonian minority in Greece” - irking Athens and sparking a diplomatic counter-offensive by Greece at European level. Negotiations between Skopje and Athens on the use of the name “Macedonia”, to which Greece objects because it says that it reinforces Skopje’s territorial claims in northern Greece, appear to be making no progress.

NORTHERN CYPRUS
Mehmet Ali Talat, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias are to meet on July 25 2008 for preparatory negotiations about talks on the future of Cyprus. Prior to the meeting, the delegations of the two sides will come together for preliminary work on the issue, Anatolia News Agency reported on July 22. Turkey alone recognises the TRNC, which declared independence in 1983. The United Nations and the European Union hold that the Republic of Cyprus is sovereign over the whole island.