The truth about North Macedonia

Flirting with the opponents of the Prespa Agreement, the Greek government claims to be vindicated by the refusal of the newly elected president in North Macedonia to refer to her country by its constitutional name. Her attitude, the conservatives say, shows that they were right to vote against the Prespa Agreement in 2018. 

In reality, the exact opposite is the case. The behavior demonstrates how important the accord was for Greece, because it commits the neighboring country to use the name "North Macedonia" in the UN, NATO, when dealing with the EU, as well as in all official documents at home and abroad. After all, it was on the basis of this commitment that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis earlier this week warned the government in Skopje that the country's path to the EU will remain blocked without compliance with the agreement.

Had the SYRIZA government, and...