ND government to block name deal if not already ratified

Main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday his party will not approve the deal struck between Athens and Skopje on the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) if the Greek parliament has not already ratified it when New Democracy is elected in government.

Mitsotakis said that even if FYROM has taken all the steps demanded by the deal, a conservative government will not vote for it if the current parliament has not done so.

“We will not ratify the deal. Neither now, nor if we find it when we become a government if it has not been approved,” he said in an interview wth broadcaster Skai.

“I did not negotiate this agreement, I do not agree with many aspects of this agreement, I will not vote for it, neither now, nor if I ever need to ratify it."

He added however that if the deal has already been approved in Athens, then New Democreacy will have “extremely limited room to maneuver.”

Asked about the debt deal secured in last week's Eurogroup, Mitsotakis said Greece will essentially enter a fourth bailout program in August where more measures will be required by Athens as part of an enhanced supervision.

“They [creditors] were forced to adjust it because the situation on this issue had gotten out of hand in the past few years,” he said.

“See what Eurogroup's decision in 2012 had foreseen [about the debt] and you will see we are in a much worse situation today.”