Greece is the winner in the negotiations with FYROM over the name because the country that was widely referred to as “Macedonia” has agreed to be called “North Macedonia”, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said on Friday.
The minister defended the Prespa agreement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The statement was made on Real FM radio in light of the mass protest rally scheduled for Saturday in Thessaloniki.
“Many of my colleagues pretend that they haven’t been calling it ‘Macedonia’ these past 15 years. Thanks to our government, it will be called ‘North Macedonia’ by the Americans as well. That is why we argue that we got the name back rather than giving it away, as some say,” Kotzias said.
The Greek minister said that the U.S. has always referred to the Balkan country as ‘Macedonia’ and never by its official name, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
“Three-fourths of the world has unfortunately recognized the neighboring country as ‘Macedonia’ and fortunately with this deal it will become ‘North Macedonia,” Kotzias said.
Despite the disagreement of almost 70 percent of Greeks who don’t want the Balkan country use the name Macedonia at all — as polls show — Kotzias argued that Greece still has the upper hand.
“Even though the neighboring country will have to go through a referendum, a constitutional amendment and a name change, it will continue to rely on Greece, since without Greece’s ratification of the Prespa agreement, it will not become a member of NATO,” Kotzias said.
The Greek foreign minister also expressed the certainty that the Greek Parliament will ratify the agreement, despite objections by junior coalition partner, the nationalist Independent Greeks.
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