Greece yesterday threatened to obstruct North Macedonia's bid to join the European Union after newly elected President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova referred to her country as just "Macedonia" in her inaugural speech, reigniting a long-running name dispute.
Siljanovska Davkova, who was supported by the VMRO-DPMNE party in the elections last Sunday, thus violated the agreement between Athens and Skopje, which was mediated by the United Nations, the Reuters agency points out. As a result, the Greek ambassador to Macedonia, Sofija Filipidou, demonstratively left the parliamentary gallery where the country's diplomatic corps was.
Greece has been claiming for a long time that by using that name, its neighbor implies territorial claims to the Greek province, which is also called Macedonia.
"Any progress in our bilateral relations, as well as every step of Skopje towards Europe, depends on their compliance with the agreement", Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said yesterday.
The use of that name by the president is "illegal and unacceptable", he added.
On this occasion, the European Commission reacted yesterday. "In order for North Macedonia to continue its successful path to EU membership, it is crucial that the country continues on the path of reforms with full respect for binding agreements," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sunday online.
A few hours later, Von der Lejenova, as reported by the AP agency, sent congratulations to the new president: "Congratulations to Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, who became the first female president of North Macedonia." Your leadership comes at a crucial time, as your country moves forward with reforms and continues its path towards the EU. I look forward to working with you".
Bulgaria also reacted to Siljanovska and Davkova's move, which also blocked North Macedonia's path to EU membership due to the dispute over the language and the rights of the Bulgarian minority.
President Rumen Radev and Technical Prime Minister Dimitar Glavčev reacted from Bulgaria. They pointed out that Bulgaria constantly and clearly expresses the position that the agreements must be strictly implemented and that they are convinced that the European perspective of the Republic of North Macedonia depends entirely on the implementation of international agreements.
Siljanovska Davkova's office announced that she signed the oath using the constitutional name North Macedonia and that she will "observe all official applications". However, it is added that "in her public appearances, the Macedonian president has the right to use the name Macedonia, within the framework of the personal right to self-determination".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia later announced that the country is committed to "undisputed respect for constitutional provisions and all internationally assumed obligations", including the Prespa Agreement.
After long and hard negotiations, both countries accepted the name "Northern Macedonia" in 2018. It seemed that the so-called Prespa Agreement, which entered into force a year later, ended the 27-year dispute and opened the way for Skopje to join the NATO military alliance.
At the time, Greece said it would support its neighbor's aspirations to join the EU.
Siljanovska Davkova was elected president last Sunday with the support of the center-right party VMRO-DPMNE. The party, which made significant electoral gains thanks in part to a wave of discontent over slow progress in the country's efforts to join the EU, has refused to recognize the Prespa Agreement, which it claims undermines state sovereignty.
In Greece, Mitsotakis's conservative party also opposed the Prespa agreement.
The agreement, which was reached by the then prime ministers of the two countries, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, was ratified by the Greek parliament in the midst of protests whose participants claimed that the new name still represented a territorial claim to the northern Greek region.
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