Zaev: North Macedonia to begin issuing new passports bearing state’s constitutional name

North Macedonia will begin issuing new passports bearing the state’s constitutional name, with its prime minister stating that he will receive his on Monday.

Zoran Zaev also confirmed that federations in the country which have not changed their name to reflect the terms of the Prespa Agreement will do so in the near future, with some renamings already underway.

Zaev made his remarks in the context of the first “Prespa Forum Dialogue,” held in Ohrid, which was attended Alexis Tsipras, leader of main opposition SYRIZA.

In a meeting with Zaev, Tsipras, whose government co-signed the Prespa Agreement in 2018, explicitly noted the importance of the strict implementation of the agreement, particularly in terms of the names of public entities and of textbook references.

Last month, the Greek government objected to the use by the North Macedonia national football team of jerseys bearing the acronym “FFM,” which stands for “Football Federation of Macedonia.”

Athens also criticized Zaev for referring to his country’s team, which participated in the European Championship 2020, as “Macedonia,” omitting the qualifier “North.”

Zaev later described the tweet as a “mistake.”

[ANA-MPA]