Announcements started to arrive from certain Independent Greeks MPs that the party’s decision to leave the ruling coalition has already been adopted, even though a party spokesperson said that Independent Greeks would not vote in favour of the Prespa Agreement and that the issue of support for the coalition would be clarified following Friday’s meeting between party leader Panos Kammenos ...

PS Talat Xhaferi believes that the constitutional changes matter resulting from the Prespa Agreement will be settled by mid-January. That, as he said on Tuesday, will open an opportunity for the name deal ratification law to be sent to the Official Gazette together with the one on languages without a signature by President Gjorge Ivanov. The constitutional changes will be ...

In his congratulatory message to Greeks in the diaspora on the occasion of the New Year’s and Christmas holidays, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos reiterated his stand on the relations with the northern neighbour. As he pointed out, in the period leading up to the defining of the name deal and, certainly, before its ratification, Greece isn’t ready to accept interpretations ...

Following the end of the constitutional changes process and ratification process, Macedonia will automatically activate the NATO membership invitation. The Deputy PM for European Affairs, Bujar Osmani, is optimistic that Macedonia will next year start EU membership talks. At a briefing on Sunday, he described 2018 as a historic year. In Osmani’s view, the reform process, Prespa Agreement and good-neighbourliness ...

The PM of Macedonia Zoran Zaev started on Wednesday his official visit of Brussels, along with Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov. In Brussels, Zaev met the President of the European Council (EC) Donald Tusk, who welcomed the inclusive policies applied by the Macedonian government in the process of adoption of the constitutional changes. Tusk said that if Macedonia manages to keep ...

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs provided support for the amendments for changes to the Constitution of Macedonia listed in the Prespa Agreement. During the debate, the MPs Sonja Mirakovska from NSDP and Panco Minov from GROM voiced support for the interventions made to the amendments after the public debates and the debates in the Parliament. The MPs from the ...

The Greek newspaper “I Kathimerini” reports that the Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said that Greece will not accept different interpretations of the Prespa Agreement on behalf of Skopje. “Greece is willing to establish good-neighbourly relations with our Northern neighbours, but if the Prespa Agreement is to be ratified, we shall not accept different interpretations of it, especially interpretations full of ...

In his address at the 18th Doha Forum, UN Sec Gen Antonio Guterres said the Prespa Agreement was an example of peacefully resolving transnational disputes. “The deal between Athens and Skopje is a successful example of transnational efforts to close contentious issues,” he pointed out, adding that it would benefit the whole Balkan region. The UN Sec Gen also called ...

The Prespa Agreement was one of the issues discussed at the meeting between Greek Alternate FM Georgios Katrougalos and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The deal was described as historic. As it was also assessed, it will help in the realisation of Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integrations and oppose the Russian influence in the region. “In June, Greece signed the Prespa ...

The Greek government claims that the amendments for constitutional changes adopted by the government in Skopje are in the spirit of the Prespa Agreement, MIA reports citing sources from within the Greek government. “The changes made to the amendment XXXVI where now stands the word “diaspora” are in accordance with the text and the spirit of the Prespa Agreement. This ...