Athens, 21 May 2024 (MIA) — I would like to send a message to Skopje and the new government here, a few kilometers from our border: if they dispute the core of the agreement on the country's name and call it whatever they want, they need to know their EU road will remain closed, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Tuesday during a speech in Florina, MIA's Athens correspondent reports.

Mitsotakis was "not happy to say this", he said, because Greece wanted to have good relations with its neighbors.

"The citizens of North Macedonia don't want any tensions or nationalism. I wish and hope they come to their senses and get back on the right track," Mitsotakis said.

Ahead of the European elections on June 9, Mitsotakis held an election campaign rally in Florina as part of his visit to the northwestern part of Greece.

Among other things, he spoke about the name deal with North Macedonia, saying he was "displeased with the fact that our northern neighbors have chosen to go back in time and dispute the name of their country, which was agreed on via an international agreement."

He reiterated that New Democracy had been against the Prespa Agreement, but it could not be changed, torn or amended now, because it was an international agreement. mr/