Mitsotakis: FYROM deal is ‘bad,’ recognizes Macedonian ethnicity and language
New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis slammed the deal reached between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Tuesday, calling it a “bad deal” that recognizes a Macedonian ethnicity and language.
“Accepting the 'Macedonian language' and the 'Macedonian ethnicity' constitutes a non-acceptable national concession,” he said in a video posted on his official Twitter account.
“The solution that was agreed is a bad agreement. It is against the [interests of the] majority of Greeks. Some people do not realize it or, even worse, they do not care to understanding it,” he added.
Mitsotakis said that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras “does not have any political legitimacy” to commit the country to a deal that is not approved by his junior government coalition partner, the Independent Greeks (ANEL).
“This has no precedent in Greek political and constitutional history and an insult of the parliamentary system,” he said.
Prime Minister Tsipras said in a televised statement that the name change of FYROM to "Republic of North Macedonia" would be reflected both domestically and abroad.
He said that the accord would allow a clear distinction between Greece’s Macedonia province and the country.
