The Prime Minister of Greece reiterated his intention to thwart North Macedonia's bid to join the EU, reports "Reuters".
This decision was reached after the newly elected president of the RSM called the country "Macedonia", renewing the dispute with Athens over the name.
Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova - who won the support of a resurgent nationalist party in last week's vote - mentioned Macedonia's former name during her inauguration on Sunday. In this way, it violated the agreement between Athens and Skopje, reached with the mediation of the UN.
The two countries agreed that Greece's small Balkan neighbor would be called "Northern Macedonia" after long and contentious negotiations in 2018, not just "Macedonia", which Athens says implies territorial claims to a Greek region of the same name.
According to this agreement, the Greek parliament had to approve three memoranda, which include speeding up North Macedonia's accession processes to the EU, but Athens is waiting to see if its neighbor fully implements the terms of the agreement.
"We will not ratify the memorandums unless we are absolutely convinced that the other side complies with all the provisions of the agreement," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized.
It was assumed that the so-called The Prespa Agreement ended a 27-year dispute between Athens and Skopje and paved the way for North Macedonia to join NATO.
Greece then declared that it would also support its neighbor's bid to join the EU.
It seems that Skopje has not had enough of the blockade from Bulgaria and entered into a confrontation with Greece, which until that moment, albeit reservedly, supported the start of negotiations in substance for European membership.
We remind you that the agreement with Bulgaria is also among the problematic topics for the winner of the VMRO-DPMNE elections.
"We will take care of our tasks here and we will wait, we will wait for someone sensible (in Sofia - ed.) with whom we can talk. I don't see what Bulgaria has given up on. A bilateral treaty being part of a negotiating framework with the EU is a precedent. Good neighborly relations are something different and are determined by international criteria.
These were part of the main messages of the leader of the VMRO-DPMNE party that won the elections in Skopje, Hristiyan Mitskoski. He gave an interview to the Macedonian TV channel "Kanal 5".
Mitskoski also commented on the position of acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, that Bulgaria will not make any more concessions to North Macedonia.
North Macedonia has begun negotiations to join the EU in 2022. To meet the requirements, it must meet certain criteria, including changing its constitution to recognize a Bulgarian minority, a hotly contested issue in the country.
The former president of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, strongly condemned Bulgaria's actions regarding North Macedonia's membership in the European Union (EU). However, he made a request to the authorities to maintain good relations with the neighbors because it is in the interest of Skopje.