Revelations of the minutes of the meetings between FYROM politicians on the “Macedonian” name dispute with Greece have sparked harsh criticism against Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.
According to the minutes, which came to light in the Greek press on Tuesday, Mr Tsipras appears to be willing to concede the nationality and the language to FYROM and is in a hurry to close the agreement.
The two meetings, under President Giorgi Ivanov, on the Prespa agreement were held on 27 January 27, 2018, and the second on May 19, 2018. Both FYROM PM Zoran Zaev and Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov convey a sense that the Greek government wanted to “quickly” close the issue of the agreement to go to elections with the end of the memorandums.
In addition, major Greek opposition party New Democracy (ND) is initially described as “potentially positive”, a stance that changes sharply in May.
The general sense conveyed by the FYROM political leadership is that the Greek PM is a valuable interlocutor, in the sense that he is believed to be the most suitable Greek Prime Minister to reach an agreement that would serve the interests and goals of FYROM on the name dispute. The Prime Minister of FYROM, Zoran Zaev seems to be in a hurry to close a deal as long as Mr Tsipras is in power in Greece. “The conditions are favourable, because in Greece the Left is in power”.
At the same time, President Gjorge Ivanov described Alexis Tsipras as more positive about the issue than George Papandreou, saying that he “wants a solution” and that “he did not swear before the Church, he is freer”.
It also becomes apparent from the minutes that Greece had made a significant concession to FYROM at the Sounion meeting (just before the signing of the Prespa Agreement), saying that at this meeting Greece seemed “ready to accept the demand of a “Macedonian language” and the “Macedonian nationality” with the qualifier “Ilinden.”