Greek opposition won’t back deal on name unless Skopje changes constitution

Greece’s conservative political opposition will not back a deal to settle a decades-old row with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over its name unless the ex-Yugoslav republic changes its constitution, its leader said on Thursday.

Athens and Skopje are negotiating to settle a dispute that has kept FYROM from joining NATO and the European Union. Greece believes the name “Macedonia” implies a territorial claim over its northern region, which uses the same name. 

“We will express our strong disagreement in parliament if and when such an accord comes,” New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose party leads the country’s leftist-led government in opinion polls, told the foreign press association.

“A constitutional review (by Skopje) is a necessary precondition for an accord,” he said.

The changes New Democracy wants would affect passages in FYROM's constitution that refer to nationality, language and other articles. 

FYROM has so far has refused to consider any such changes. And in any case the Greek government can pass any agreement without the help of New Democracy.

Hundreds of thousands of Greeks rallied in the northern city of Thessaloniki and in Athens earlier this year to protest against the use of the name “Macedonia” in any solution to the row. 

Mitsotakis accused the government of conducting “secret diplomacy” and then briefing political parties in the opposition, saying its tactics are dividing Greeks.

Talks between the two states have been inconclusive since 1991, when the small Balkan state withdrew from former Yugoslavia. It was admitted into the United Nations in 1993 under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, sometimes referred to as FYROM.

[Reuters]