Prespa agreement

The relations between North Macedonia and Bulgaria are friendly, deep and warm. I think we have never had a better relationship. There is no citizen who does not confirm this thing. This is what Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said.

By George Gilson

Main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed his law and order platform, his opposition to the Prespa Agreement, and his opposition to pre-election handouts during the last two days of the European Parliament and local elections campaign in Florina and Thessaloniki.

The World Bank's CEO Kristalina Georgieva and two incumbent prime ministers, Alexis Tsipras of Greece and Zoran Zaev of North Macedonia, have been selected as the beneficiaries of Emerging Europe's Remarkable Achievement Awards for 2019.

Conservative main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged Greeks to vote in the European elections on May 26, noting it is an opportunity for people to vent their frustration over the past four years of SYRIZA's rule.

Hahn, who is in charge of enlargement negotiations and neighborhood policy, at the same time stressed that North Macedonia is "a positive example in the region that problems can be resolved."

Testing Relations

The Prespes name deal signed between Athens and Skopje should serve as a blueprint for resolving many bilateral differences in the Western Balkans, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Palmer was quoted on Friday by the Athens-Macedonia News Agency as telling Radio Free Europe.

During his first visit to Northern Macedonia, Pope Francis tried to encourage their efforts to integrate into the European institutions after the name change decides the decades-long dispute with Greece, BTA reported.

Greek centrist party To Potami was set to restore its parliamentary group status on Tuesday after two new MPs were sworn in to replace lawmakers who left the party over disagreements regarding the Prespes agreement.
The party had been reduced to three lawmakers after a series of departures in the run-up to the approval of the name deal in Parliament earlier this year.

Main opposition New Democracy leads SYRIZA by 6.5 percentage points, but the ruling party's polling numbers in the region of Macedonia have collapsed, largely due to the hugely unpopular Prespa Agreement with the state of North Macedonia.