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Macedonia PM hails 'historic' deal with Greece to resolve name row

Other News Materials 13 June 2018 02:00 (UTC +04:00)
Macedonia and Greece on Tuesday resolved a nearly three-decade row by agreeing to call it the Republic of North Macedonia, as Skopje hailed a "historic solution" to a dispute which had blocked its bid to join the EU and NATO
Macedonia PM hails 'historic' deal with Greece to resolve name row

Macedonia and Greece on Tuesday resolved a nearly three-decade row by agreeing to call it the Republic of North Macedonia, as Skopje hailed a "historic solution" to a dispute which had blocked its bid to join the EU and NATO, AFP reported.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said the two sides agreed to the rename the former Yugoslav republic after months of intensive diplomacy.

"There is an agreement. We have a historic solution after two and a half decades. Our agreement includes Republic of North Macedonia for overall use," Zaev told reporters in the capital Skopje.

Greece has long objected to its northern neighbour being called Macedonia because it has its own northern province of the same name.

In televised comments, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras declared the deal "a great diplomatic victory and a great historic opportunity" for the region to have "friendship, cooperation and co-development".

Macedonia hopes that resolving the name dispute will help clear the way for it to join the European Union and NATO.

But the deal still needs to be approved by the Macedonian parliament and pass a referendum there, as well as ratification in the Greek parliament.

Tsipras insisted the Macedonian government needed to get parliamentary approval otherwise "NATO's invitation is canceled and negotiations with the EU will not move".

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted his support for the agreement: "Thanks to you the impossible is becoming possible."

"I am keeping my fingers crossed," he said.

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