Greece said on Tuesday it had asked the United Nations to help speed up talks it is holding with Skopje to find a mutually acceptable name for the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. Athens has objected to "Macedonia", a name shared by a northern Greek province, ever since the republic broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991 It has indicated it could block Macedonian membership of the EU over the dispute, when a report of its progress towards joining the bloc is issued next year. The United States infuriated Greece by recognising its tiny Balkan neighbour as "Macedonia" earlier this month. Athens said the move disregarded over a decade of U.N.-led negotiations. "Greece has already asked for a step-up in the U.N.-led talks for finding an acceptable solution to the name of the neighbouring country," Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis told reporters during a visit to Sofia. "This is also the European Union's stance." Until recently, Greece had the support of nearly all NATO allies for refusing recognition of the name. The country is referred to as the Former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, or FYROM, by NATO, the European Union and the United Nations.
