Athens, 6 June 2024 (MIA) — The Prespa Agreement and the one name for all, North Macedonia erga omnes, was the basic precondition for North Macedonia to join NATO, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview for the Greek national broadcaster ERT, MIA's Athens correspondent reports.

Mitsotakis said the country's name was the reason it did not join NATO for so many years. He added that he would meet North Macedonia's new Prime Minister for the first time at NATO's 75th anniversary and it would be incomprehensible if the country's new leadership was questioning the Prespa Agreement while attending the NATO summit.

Regarding his recent statement that Hristijan Mickoski could find himself in an uncomfortable position at the summit, Mitsotakis said it would happen "if he keeps saying the same thing he says."

"When someone is elected Prime Minister, there is no individual Prime Minister status. The Prime Minister is an institution. He speaks representing his country," Mitsotakis said, adding that Mickoski was saying, "I personally identify as a Macedonian and I will use this terminology, but the official name of my country is North Macedonia."

"I am waiting for the Prime Minister's official statement," Mitsotakis reiterated.

"I don't believe North Macedonia thinks it can make any progress toward Europe by opening a new, unnecessary front with Greece. I think that what I am saying is clear and I hope it will be understood with absolute clarity in Skopje, because this is really an unnecessary dimension complicating the relations between the two countries, which is not beneficial for the citizens of North Macedonia," Mitsotakis said. mr/