The sun sets over the Acropolis, Athens. Greece said that it was open to a “composite name” for Macedonia

After decades of disagreement Greece and Macedonia look ready to put their differences aside and settle a naming dispute that has heightened tensions between the two neighbours for the past 27 years.

Macedonia, which seceded from Yugslavia in 1991, became officially the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 1995. Greece objects, saying that its choice of name shows its designs on the Greek province of Macedonia. In 2008 Greece, a Nato member, blocked its neighbour from joining the alliance and the government in Skopje responded by naming stadiums, airports and motorways after the Greek warrior Alexander the Great, causing fury in Athens.

Now, months into a radical change of government in Macedonia, the reform and western-minded administration of Zoran Zaev is scrambling to settle the