Macedonia`s Name Should Be Location-Based - Greece

Macedonia`s parliament is expected to discuss the issue late on Monday or Tuesday.

Macedonia's new name should be based on its geography, Greece's Deputy Foreign Minister said on Monday, and Athens will support the country in every way possible once the issue is settled, he said.

Greece has disputed the name since Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia 17 years ago and took the same name as Greece's northernmost province.

The row has slowed Skopje's progress towards the European Union and the NATO military alliance. Relations between the two nations have worsened since April when Greece effectively blocked NATO entry for the country that the United Nations calls the Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM).

"Greek Macedonia is larger in size and population than FYROM and we cannot just basically discard that, so we said a geographically qualified name is something that is a good basis for both of us to work on," Petros Doukas said during a visit to Belgrade where he is leading an investment delegation.

"They have shown -- let's not call it belligerence -- but a much more hard line than one might have even in the most extreme case expected them to be, including personal attacks against the Greek government," he told Reuters.

Greece will respond formally to the latest proposed name for ex-Yugoslav Macedonia in the coming weeks and is anxious for a solution despite what it sees as Macedonian intransigence, Doukas said.

Macedonia's parliament is expected to discuss the issue late on Monday or Tuesday.

A U.N. mediator recently proposed "Northern Macedonia" as a compromise solution, but talks are tangled over many related issues such as how outsiders should refer to the language and nationality of people who live there.

Representatives from both sides met in New York last week. So far, both sides have said that the latest proposal needs many amendments to serve as a basis for an eventual solution.

"Following an amicable settlement, we are really willing to support the country financially, business, politically, any way we could possible figure," Doukas said.