ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s prime minister reiterated on Thursday his intention to thwart North Macedonia’s bid to join the EU after its newly elected president referred to her country as “Macedonia”, reigniting a dispute with Athens over the name.
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova – who had the backing of a resurgent nationalist party in last week’s vote – referred to the former name of Macedonia during her inauguration on Sunday, violating a U.N.-brokered agreement between Athens and Skopje.
Both countries agreed that Greece’s small Balkan neighbour would be called “North Macedonia” after long and contentious negotiations in 2018, not just “Macedonia”, which Athens says implies territorial claims on a Greek province of the same name.
According to that agreement, the Greek parliament was to approve three memoranda which include speeding up processes for North Macedonia’s EU accession, but Athens is waiting to see if its neighbour fully implements the terms of the accord.
“We will not ratify the memoranda unless we are absolutely convinced that the other party complies with all provisions of the agreement,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Skai TV.
The so-called Prespa accord appeared to end a 27-year-old dispute between Athens and Skopje and cleared the way for North Macedonia to join the NATO military alliance.
At the time, Greece said it would support its neighbour’s bid to join the EU too.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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