“We are talking about the statements of a designate prime minister. We will wait for the official positions of the government of North Macedonia, but the first evidence is extremely negative. At the core of the Prespa Agreement was the concept of a single name, what we call erga omnes, that the name North Macedonia should apply to all, i.e. be used both abroad and inside the country,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Saturday in a interview with public broadcaster ERT.
“Let me remind you that we did not vote for the Prespa Agreement because we had expressed strong reservations about the fact that this agreement provided for Macedonian ethnicity and Macedonian language. That was the main reason. But on the issue of the name there is a very clear setback and I want once again to send a warning to the new government to change its line from now on, to respect this central provision of the Prespa Agreement, to only use the name North Macedonia in and outside the country, when references are made to our northern neighbor. Otherwise, it is certain that they will cause problems not only in Greece’s relations with North Macedonia, but in Europe’s relations with North Macedonia,” he stressed.
He added: “I want to demonstrate here that as a result of interventions by the Greek government, within a few hours (I personally informed the EU leadership about the statements of the president of North Macedonia), there were condemnatory statements from both the president of the European Commission and the president of the EU Council as well as the US. “So I believe that a total pressure will be exerted on the leadership of North Macedonia to avoid an important setback.”