Greece says opportunity to resolve Macedonia name issue must not be wasted

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece believes that the opportunity to solve a decades old dispute over the Macedonia name issue must not be wasted, the country's government spokesman said on Monday, a day after a referendum was held in the ex-Yugoslav Republic.

A vast majority of voters at the referendum on Sunday supported the deal reached between Athens and Skopje in June. But Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev failed to secure the 50 percent turnout required to make the referendum valid and has now pledged to press on with a vote in parliament.

Tzanakopoulos said that Athens supported Zaev's decision and that it was flexible regarding the time frame described in the June accord. Greece's main concern, he said, was the implementation of the constitutional changes rather than meeting deadlines.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos)