NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the Parliament’s decision to initiate constitutional changes arising from the Prespa Agreement.  “I welcome the vote by parliament in Skopje on the proposed constitutional changes. It’s up to the government and political leaders to complete national procedures on the name agreement and seize this historic opportunity to bring the country into NATO,” tweeted Stoltenberg. ...

Today is a day of joy for the incoming and the outgoing foreign minister of Greece following Friday’s outcome of the vote in the Macedonian Parliament over the initiative for constitutional revision. Despite the resignation, outgoing Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said they are happy, MIA reports from Athens. The handover of the post from Kotzias ...

NATO Spokesperson Oana Lungescu told MIA after the start of Macedonia’s Alliance accession talks on Thursday that the country now has the historic opportunity to become a part of the Euro-Atlantic family, provided it implements the Prespa Agreement. “The country made an important step today by starting the two-day accession talks at the NATO Headquarters. The negotiations cover security, defense, ...

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos in an interview with Greek national broadcaster ERT on Thursday said that Prespa Agreement is not only alive, but is also the government’s main political goal. He said that the political message of government session on Tuesday is that the Greek government is committed to Prespa Agreement. “I consider both Mr. Zaev and Mr. Tsipras ...

We remain committed with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras over the perspectives of the new Balkans in the 21st century. A region of friendship, cooperation, economic growth and happier citizens, said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Thursday. PM Zaev was referring to Wednesday’s telephone conversation with his Greek counterpart and following the resignation of Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias. Zaev said Tsipras ...

We urge leaders in the Macedonian parliament to rise above partisan politics and seize this historic opportunity to secure a brighter future for the country, US State Department official told Greece’s state-run news agency ANA-MPA. In regard to the resignation of Greece’s FM Nikos Kotzias, the US State Department thanked the Greek official for his dedicated service to improving Greek-US ...

Following the debate in the Assembly of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on constitutional changes to implement the Prespa agreement Members of the European Parliament Mr David McAllister and Mr Eduard Kukan issued the following statement: “We understand the difficult choices related to the implementation of the Prespa agreement. However, we trust that all political actors will use this ...

Macedonia’s FM Nikola Dimitrov wished success to Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who resigned on Wednesday and promised commitment in the process of finalizing the Prespa Agreement.  “In only one year, we managed to achieve something that in the past 27 years was considered to be impossible – we brought our two countries closer and we signed the historic Prespa ...

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has resigned following a disagreement with the defense minister over the handling of a recent deal which would change Macedonia’s name in exchange for Greece dropping its objections to the country joining NATO, AP reported. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced Wednesday he had accepted Kotzias’ resignation, and said he would take over the foreign ministry ...

I encourage the neighbor to proceed with determination and courage and to make the decisive step while completing the obligations stemming from the historic Prespa Agreement, because there will be no other opportunity, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said speaking to reporters after accepting the resignation of FM Nikos Kotzias. In a four-minute statement Tsipras conveyed several messages referring to ...