PM: North Macedonia should use constitutional name everywhere

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated on Saturday the obligation of North Macedonia’s officials to use the country’s constitutional name in every use, as dictated in a 2018 UN-brokered agreement between Athens and Skopje.

We will wait for the official positions of the government of North Macedonia, but the first evidence is extremely negative. At the core of the Prespa Agreement was the concept of a single name, what we call erga omnes, that the name North Macedonia should apply to all, i.e. be used both abroad and inside the country,” Mitsotakis said in an interview with staterun broadcaster ERT.

The comment comes after newly elected president Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova called her country just “Macedonia” during a speech, reviving a long-running dispute over the name. Siljanovska-Davkova used the formerly used name during her inauguration last Sunday.

“On the issue of the name there is a very clear setback and I want once again to send a warning to the new government to change its line from now on, to respect this central provision of the Prespa Agreement, to only use the name North Macedonia in and outside the country, when references are made to our northern neighbor. Otherwise, it is certain that they will cause problems not only in Greece’s relations with North Macedonia, but in Europe’s relations with North Macedonia,” he added.