Reactions in Greece after adoption of Prespa Agreement in Skopje

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis meets with Panos Kammenos, Greece’s minister of defence, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., March 24, 2017. (DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr)

The Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos resigned his position in the Greek government, and his party Independent Greeks left the ruling alliance in the Greek Parliament, after the Macedonian Parliament fully adopted the Prespa Agreement for resolution of the name issue between the two countries. Kammenos announced in several previous occasions that he will abandon the ruling alliance once time comes for Greece to adopt and implement the Prespa Agreement. “I had a meeting with the Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, and after a long discussion, we concluded that in the past 4 years in the government of national unity two parties managed to reach agreements to secure the country’s future. However, the issue with Macedonia resulted in thousand victims so far, and that does not allow me to not sacrifice my own position as minister. I thanked Tsipras for all the cooperation so far, and I told him that due to this national issue our cooperation cannot proceed any further,” Kammenos said. Greek PM Tsipras confirmed Kammenos’ resignation, and said that he will file a request to the Parliament of Greece for a vote of confidence in the Greek government. Greek MP and former Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos stated that the ruling alliance in Greece has a secure Parliamentary majority for both voting confidence to the government and adopting the Prespa Agreement.