Foreign Affairs Minister George Gerapetritis, speaking with journalists on Wednesday, said that the Greek government “reacted very fast and with the right reflexes,” after the new president of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, referred to her country as “Macedonia” – instead of the constitutional name “North Macedonia” – during her swearing-in ceremony in the parliament, departing from the official text of the oath.
At the same time, Gerapetritis underlined that the “Prespa Agreement” will be tabled in Parliament for ratification as soon as Greece is convinced that the neighbouring country fully complies with its international commitments, noting that his wish is for this to happen during his tenure.
Talking to parliamentary reporters after the briefing he gave behind closed doors to Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee regarding current developments in Greek-Turkish relations, Gerapetritis particularly focused on the “immediate reactions at an international and European level” to the president of North Macedonia.
“There has not been another case where, within a few hours, we had statements of condemnation from the president of the European Commission, the president of the European Council, the representative of the State Department and of NATO, but also of other major countries, and this is due to the communication by the Greek government,” Gerapetritis underlined.
He added that “there is also a lot of internal pressure within North Macedonia,” referring to the statements of North Macedonia’s interim Minister of Justice Krenar Loga, that his country “respects and will respect all international agreements”.
Responding to a question regarding the ratification by the Greek parliament of the Memoranda of Cooperation between the two countries, Gerapetritis said that “I never said that they would come within the year, but that my wish is that they come within my tenure.”
“The fact that we are now in a situation where the memoranda have not yet been tabled is linked to the fact that, to date, we have not been convinced that there has been full compliance on the part of the neighbouring country. Because it is not only the name, there are also other matters. We say that they will come when we have ensured that there is full compliance,” added Gerapetritis.
