Contacts between the governments of the two countries have also intensified: on 9 January, the Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister visited Athens for the name talks[215] and Macedonian Prime Minister Zaev met his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras on 24 January on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. [216] [217] [218] At the Davos meeting, the first of its kind in seven years, there appeared to be a solution between the two PMs to end the name dispute and improve relations between the two countries. In this context, the Macedonian Prime Minister said he was ready to take initiatives that could allay Greece`s fears about antiquity policy, while the Greek Prime Minister agreed to accept Macedonia`s proposed offer of regional initiatives or agreements. Despite the obvious success of the compromise agreement, it led to a rise in nationalist unrest in both countries. Anti-Western and anti-American sentiments emerged in Greece in response to the perception that Greece`s partners in the EC and NATO had betrayed it. [38] Konstantin Mitsotakis` government was very vulnerable; It had only a majority of a few seats and was under pressure from ultranationalists. After the country`s entry into the UN, former Foreign Minister Antonis Samaras split from the ruling New Democracy (ND) party with three like-minded MPs, who expressed displeasure with their vote as an unacceptable weakness of the prime minister on the Macedonian issue. This departure deprived ND of its short parliamentary majority and eventually led to the downfall of the government, which suffered a crushing defeat in the October 1993 parliamentary elections. It was replaced by the PASOK party led by Andreas Papandreou, which put in place an even tougher policy towards Macedonia and withdrew at the end of October from the UN-backed name negotiations. [38] [44] “Agreement [d] to continue negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 845 (1993), with a view to reaching agreement on the difference described in this resolution and in Security Council Resolution 817 (1993).
On 12 June 2018, an agreement[4] was reached between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev,[5] under which the name “Republic of Northern Macedonia” was to be adopted. [6] [7] On 30 September 2018, a referendum on the name change was held in Macedonia, during which voters overwhelmingly reaffirmed their support for THE EU and NATO INSTEAD by accepting the agreement, albeit with a turnout slightly below 37% below the 50% threshold required to validate the results. [8] [9] After ratification by both parties, the agreement entered into force on 12 February 2019. [10] On 27 March 2020, the United States was granted, as a custodian, the instrument of accession of the Republic of Northern Macedonia to the North Atlantic Treaty, thus becoming NATO`s 30th ally. [11] Finally, Greece and the Republic of Macedonia formalized bilateral relations in an interim agreement signed in New York on 13 September 1995. [53] As part of the agreement, the Republic removed the Vergina Sun from its flag and the allegedly irredentist clauses of its Constitution, and the two countries committed to continue negotiations on the name issue under the aegis of the United Nations.
