Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has warned that North Macedonia's road to Europe will remain closed if Skopje does not fully comply with the Prespa Agreement.
Mitsotakis reiterated the position of the ruling New Democracy party regarding the Prespa Treaty and emphasized that harmonization is a necessary condition for the European perspective and the ratification of the cooperation memorandums.
"From here, from the heart of Macedonia, I want to be absolutely clear. New Democracy did not vote for the Prespa Agreement and we expressed serious objections when it was ratified in the Greek Parliament. But we said absolutely sincerely, I have never deceived you, that after once this agreement is accepted, it practically cannot be changed. We are forced, despite the problems, to respect it," Mitsotakis told citizens in the town of Veria (Ber).
"If some think that they may not comply with the Agreement, they should know two things: first, their path to Europe will remain closed and second, we will not ratify the memorandums until there is absolute compliance with the agreements," the Greek prime minister was quoted as saying by "Skai".
BGNES reminds that on May 12, the new Macedonian president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, was sworn in as the president of "Macedonia". It did not use the official name of the country - the Republic of North Macedonia and caused a diplomatic scandal, violating the Prespa Agreement.
The contract was signed on June 17, 2018 in the village of Nivitsi on the shores of the Great Prespa Lake by the foreign ministers of both countries, Nikos Kodzias and Nikola Dimitrov, in the presence of Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev. The agreement ended a long-running dispute over Macedonia's name between authorities in Skopje and Athens.
The signing was also attended by UN Special Representative Matthew Nimitz, as well as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. /BGNES
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