ATHENS – Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday he will not participate in a political leaders meeting on the name dispute over the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYROM), if one is called, unless the government presents a clear, unified position on the issue.

Speaking to journalists, he said the line presented by Greece in a NATO meeting in Bucharest in 2008 is the minimum requirements that the government should maintain, and reiterated New Democracy’s (ND) position: A composite name with geographic qualifiers for all uses.

Commenting on the reactions over the restart of talks on the name dispute, Mitsotakis said it is unacceptable to accuse people of being Golden Dawn voters simply because they have a “national sensitivity”. He said people are free to participate in protest rallies but added that ND founder Konstantinos Karamanlis once said, “you cannot conduct foreign policy with protest rallies”.