ND leader turns down invitation from FYROM PM - The Best from Greece

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras (photo) on Saturday rejected an invitation by the prime minister of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Gruevski, for a meeting to discuss the ongoing name dispute between the two Balkan neighbors, saying in a letter released to the media, “I do not believe such a meeting would presently be advantageous.”

Samaras, who heads the second-largest party in the tripartite coalition and is leading opinion polls, accused FYROM of placing “obstacles” to United Nations-mediated talks.

Responding on Monday, Gruevski said that Samaras’s stance was “the most extreme ever expressed by the Greek side.”