Athens, 12 July 2024 (MIA) – Greece will not reveal at this moment the weapons it has at its disposal to respond to any potential insistence by the neighboring country’s leadership on this tactic, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told a news conference in Washington after the NATO Summit reiterating his government’s position that the Prespa Agreement should be fully observed and that the use of the constitutional name within the country is also crucial, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports.

Mitsotakis said he had the opportunity to inform his counterparts about the “fact that the North Macedonia premier has chosen not to implement a key article of the agreement regarding the single name of the neighboring country for overall use and keeps on calling his country “The Republic of Macedonia” internally, which is clearly not in line with the Agreement.”

In parallel, he noted, Mickoski during the meeting and in the presence of all NATO leaders “didn’t follow this tactic and used the constitutional name of his country.” 

“I believe one way or the other, the government in the neighboring country will understand that this tactic is completely counterproductive. Agreements must be honored. I emphasized this yesterday at the NATO plenary and it is something I believe our allies are understanding. We want North Macedonia to take steps towards European integration, but this requires respect for international law and the agreements the country has signed. I believe that, in one way or another, the leadership of Skopje will understand this,” said Mitsotakis. 

Although attending the same events at the NATO Summit in Washington, the prime ministers of the two countries didn’t have bilateral talks.

The Greek government spokesman at yesterday’s press briefing, responding to a question by MIA why Mickoski and Mitsotakis didn’t meet, answered briefly that a meeting hadn’t taken place as far as he knew.  

Photo: Greek PM's office