Mitsotakis: Greece Will Not Ratify Prespa Treaty Memoranda with Skopje

The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has dismissed the prospect of the Greek parliament ratifying the three memoranda associated with the Prespa Agreement with Skopje, as reported by Sky TV.

Yesterday, the opposition party SYRIZA, which had overseen the signing of the Prespa Agreement in 2018, submitted the three memoranda to parliament for ratification. These memoranda concern North Macedonia's accession process to the EU, economic cooperation between the two countries, and the management of Skopje's airspace, according to information from Skopje.

In its rationale, the opposition party argues that both the Prespa Agreement and the related memoranda serve Greece's national interests. SYRIZA accuses the current "New Democracy" government of delaying the ratification due to internal party concerns.

Speaking on Sky TV this morning, Mitsotakis reiterated his party's previous opposition to ratifying the Prespa Treaty in early 2019. He emphasized that recent developments in Skopje, where newly elected President Gordana Siljanovska began using "Macedonia" instead of the agreed constitutional name "Republic of North Macedonia" during her inauguration, confirm the validity of his party's reservations.

Mitsotakis described it as bordering on madness for Greece to ratify the memoranda now, thereby relinquishing negotiating leverage with Skopje. He reiterated his party's objections to the "aggressive" assertions of "Macedonian nationality" and "Macedonian language," which formed the basis of their opposition to the 2018 treaty. Mitsotakis reminded that during parliamentary debates on the treaty's ratification, he had warned that once ratified, the treaty would be practically unchangeable.

"We will...