"There is no unsolvable problem" - with those words President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova announced a meeting with Bulgarian Vice President Iliana Yotova, to be held Wednesday in Sofia, on the margins of the South-East European Cooperation Process summit. A sentence that sounds optimistic, but behind which sits a dispute a full decade old.

The meeting comes as a continuation of talks begun in Yerevan, and in the wider context - after the proposal by German Chancellor Merz and French President Macron, made in Tivat. The idea is for top-level dialogue to open a new chance to break the deadlock between Skopje and Sofia.

But the Macedonian side's position stays clear and the conditions are set. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski, while pleased with the talks with Merz and Macron, repeated that there will be no constitutional changes without guarantees against new identity and historical obstacles in the EU negotiations. And one more thing: Bulgaria must enforce the Strasbourg court's rulings on the rights of Macedonian associations.

Siljanovska-Davkova stressed that the attitude toward the Strasbourg decisions has to change, and that the talks should open substantive questions, not just be photographed politeness. The diplomatic tone is welcome - but the Balkans know full well that cordial meetings and smiling photos mean nothing unless concrete steps follow. Will this meeting be different, or just one more in the line?