Dendias: Greece will ‘closely monitor’ North Macedonia’s compliance with Prespes deal
Greece will continue to “closely monitor” North Macedonia's “full compliance” with the conditions set in the Prespes accord, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said on Tuesday, after the country's Premier Zoran Zaev warned that part of the deal which ended a decades-long dispute with Greece might be at risk, because some articles are linked to his country's EU accession prospects.
“Mr Zaev is once again taking advantage of the inherent problems of the Prespes agreement which we knew and had already warned about. The deal has already yielded results and Northern Macedonia reaps benefits as the road to NATO integration has been opened,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our aim is to solve problems and mitigate the negative consequences of the agreement through the European path. For thie reason, we will continue to monitor closely our neighbors' full compliance with their responsibilities.”
Dendias also criticized main opposition SYRIZA, which signed the deal with North Macedonia in 2018, to “consider its responsibilities for a problematic erga omnes which it continues to present as an accomplishment.”
Speaking in an interview with Euronews, Zaev said there is a link between the implementation of the name deal and the opening and closing of accession chapters.
“Especially for internal use in some cases,” he was quoted as saying by Euronews, adding that part of it will freeze because it cannot be implemented.
