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North Macedonia: Rekindling the name conflict with Greece?

2024-05-13 08:20:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
North Macedonia: Rekindling the name conflict with Greece?
The new president of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova

The new president of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, with her oath in parliament on Sunday, reignited an old debate. Instead of "North Macedonia", which is the new name of the country after the agreement with Greece, it used the name "Macedonia".

The Greek ambassador to the country, Sophia Philippidou, left the hall in protest. Even the Foreign Ministry in Athens reacted by declaring later that the attitude of the country's new president endangers bilateral relations and North Macedonia's path towards the EU. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, asked the country to respect the agreements reached, if it will remain on the EU membership path.

The new election winners want to use the old name

Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova clearly won the presidential election on Wednesday as the candidate of the nationalist party, VMRO-DPMNE, against the then incumbent social democratic candidate, Stevo Pendarovski. In the parliamentary elections, VMRO was also elected the most powerful parliamentary force, and probably the head of the party, Hristijan Mickoski, will form the new government. As the new president, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, VMRO politicians also announced in the election that they would no longer use the new official name of the country but the former Macedonia.

North Macedonia: Rekindling the name conflict with Greece?
Head of VMRO-DPMNE, Hristijan Mickoski

North Macedonia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2005. But the start of membership talks was delayed due to the name conflict with Greece. In 2027, the governing social democrats reached an agreement with Greece on the name change, which was implemented in 2019. Athens insisted on changing the name Macedonia, as a region in the north of Greece bears the same name. The name change in North Macedonia also brought about the country's membership in NATO and with this also opened the way for the start of membership talks./ DW





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