SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The session dedicated to the adoption of the Prespa Agreement started on Wednesday in the Greek Parliament. The debate is expected to proceed on Thursday as well, since 205 MPs have are to speak in the Parliament about the agreement. Among the first speakers was the Greek Alternate Foreign Minister Georgios Kathrougalos, who said that Greece is legally obliged to resolve the dispute with its Northern neighbouring country. “The Prespa Agreement satisfies 110 % of our national positions on this issue established back in 2007, solidifies the international image of Greece and secures the peace and stability in the entire region. It is utterly hypocritical for us to believe that a country whose economy is 17 times smaller and less powerful than ours can pose a threat over our country,” Kathrougalos said. New Democracy MP Nikos Dendias asked that Macedonia’s Constitution following the constitutional revision is distributed to them. “This is a required prerequisite for discussion, because we need to understand the reality if the Greek parliament endorses the agreement,” Dendias said. Democratic Alliance MP Andreas Loverdos said he asked the government for eight documents, of which one from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, another from the Defence Ministry, and six relating to the army’s general staff, which would show there is a serious problem regarding the two concessions – nationality and language – in the agreement. In meantime, 250 Greek intellectuals and artists signed and published an initiative which supports the adoption of the Prespa Agreement, saying that the agreement closes one of the longest and most complicated bilateral disputes in modern-day Europe.
