The Greek police today prevented the opponents of the Greek-Macedonian name agreement from preventing the agreement signing ceremony, which was held in the village of Psarades. As reported by the MIA agency, the police dispersed the protesters with tear gas when they tried to enter the security zone and reach that village, which is located on the Greek shore of Lake Prespa. That document was signed before noon by the heads of diplomacy of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotijas, together with the UN mediator, in the presence of the prime ministers of the two countries and high representatives of the EU and the UN, who mediated the negotiations. After the signing, the delegations of the governments of Macedonia and Greece went by boat to the Macedonian side of the Prespa border area, where the meeting will continue with bilateral talks and a joint lunch in the village of Oteševo.
Events on the shore of Prespa Lake are monitored by strong security measures. The agreement between Tsipras and Zaev, which was reached on June 12, stipulates that Macedonia will change its name to the "Republic of North Macedonia" with a change in the Constitution and a referendum, and that Greece will stop preventing Macedonia from joining NATO and starting negotiations on EU accession.
The agreement between the two prime ministers was welcomed by the EU, NATO, the USA and other countries, including Russia. The agreement to resolve the dispute over Macedonia's name has fueled deeply nationalistic attitudes in both Greece and Macedonia, with critics accusing Prime Ministers Tsipras and Zaev of "treason".
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