Matthew Nimetz

The ratification of the agreement signed between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to end a decades-old name dispute by the Greek Parliament will usher in a new era of security in the Balkans, United Nations envoy Matthew Nimetz said on Friday, a few hours after lawmakers approved the deal.

The government Wednesday attacked main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis for pledging to renegotiate the name deal signed between Athens and Skopje last summer if he becomes prime minister. 

United Nations diplomat Matthew Nimetz, who has mediated talks between Athens and Skopje on the name dispute, has said that failure to ratify the so-called Prespes accord would have "profound" consequences for both sides.

Matthew Nimetz, the United Nations Special Representative for the naming dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, has released the following statement:

Seeking to douse the fire that began after the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev implied there is a "Macedonian" minority in Greece, Skopje insisted on Tuesday that it remains firmly committed to the name deal it signed with Greece in June. 

The minutes seen by Kathimerini of meetings between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's political party leaders about the negotiations with Greece before the name deal was signed in the Prespes lake district in June, indicate that they thought a deal would be easier to sign with a left-wing government in power in Greece.

Veteran UN negotiator Matthew Nimetz, who has been overseeing talks between Athens and Skopje on the name issue for almost 30 years, said the results of the referendum in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on the deal achieved with Greece should be discussed again in Parliament.

If the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) or Greece do not ratify the agreement achieved between the two countries on the name of the former, it may take more than two decades to reach another, United Nations envoy Matthew Nimetz said in an interview with Balkans Insight on Wednesday.

US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt reiterated his country's support for Greece's economic recovery, saying it all depends on the decisions of the Greek government, in comments to journalists after a speech at the Greek Investment RoadShow 2018 in New York on Tuesday.

The Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias, in the presence of their countries' Prime Ministers, Macedonia's Zoran Zaev and Greece's Alexis Tsipras, signed a historic agreement aimed at ending the long dispute over Macedonia's name on Sunday.