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June 15, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 3
deal, the nationality will be “Macedonian/citizen of Northern Macedonia” and the name of the language will remain “Macedonian” as well. The implementation of the agreement will be conducted gradually in line with the opening of Macedonia’s EU’s negotiations chapters.
If the agreement is finalised over the weekend, the Macedonian PM will then send letters to over 190 countries that have recognised the Republic of Mace- donia under its constitutional name informing them that from now on they should use the name Northern Macedonia in bilateral and international relations.
Greek media cited Tsipras as saying that “the name change of the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia to "Republic of North Mecedonia" would be reflected both domestically and abroad.”
He said that the deal would allow a clear distinc- tion between Greece’s province of Macedonia and the country.
Strong opposition
The reaction of the opposition and the public, in Macedonia in particular, will be decisive for the deal to be successful.
In the run up to the agreement, opposition parties in both countries staged huge protests against a potential deal, in Greece against the use of the term “Macedonia” and in Macedonia against the constitutional changes and erga omnes.
After Zaev’s announcement, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski said that the negotiations
were held in secret and that the agreement is
a “defeat” for Macedonia as Zaev has accepted all the Greek demands.
“This is an agreement for capitulation,” Mickoski said at the news conference.
Earlier on June 12, Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the nationalist Independ- ent Greeks (ANEL), the junior partner in Greece’s left-led coalition government, reiterated that ANEL will not back any deal between Athens and Skopje on a name that contains the term “Macedonia”, but also indicated that he will not put the fragile coali- tion at risk either, Kathimerini reported.
Kammenos added the current deal between Tsipras and Zaev, “will never be approved” by a referendum in Greece’s northern neighbour or by the parliament, suggesting that a breakthrough on the decades-old dispute is still a long way off.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias said earlier that the Macedonian language "is not something that can be given or taken by Greece, because it is some- thing that has already been given by the UN in 1977”.
The agreement followed a process of hard negotia- tions that lasted several months. The UN-mediated talks re-started after the Social Democrat-led government came to power at the end of May 2017, after being on hold during the rule of the nationalist, conservative VMRO-DPMNE government which took moves that infuriated the Greek authorities. One particularly contentious move was to name Skopje airport after Alexander the Great; the airport was then renamed International Airport Skopje by the Social Democrats to meet Greek demands.