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SUBJECT Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will call for a confidence vote
DATE 2019-01-14
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PHOTO: BBC.com

 

The Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said on January 14 that he will call for a vote of confidence after his governing coalition split over the Macedonia name change.

 

The Defense Minister and the leader of the Independent Greeks Party (ANEL) Kammenos resigned and said that his party will withdraw its support, signaling his opposition ahead of an expected vote in the Greek parliament.

 

Earlier, on January 11, the Macedonian Parliament members voted to endorse the constitutional changes regarding the name of the country. 81 out of 120 members of parliament voted in favor of the amendments, paving the way to changing the country’s name to Republic of North Macedonia.

 

Last year, on June 17, 2018, Macedonia and Greece signed the Prespa Agreement which said that the amendments to Macedonia’s constitution will not enter into force and will have no value if Greece doesn’t ratify this agreement and NATO accession control, ending a 27-year-long dispute. Under the deal, the official name of the country would become the Republic of North Macedonia.

 

Currently, Macedonia is called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) by the United Nations.

 

Traditionally, Greeks have generally opposed to any name that includes Macedonia, with some Greek nationalists arguing that the name “Macedonia” can only refer to the Greek province of Macedonia.

 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras vowed to bring the agreement up for ratification within 10 days after the completion of the parliamentary process in FYROM. FYROM will only start using the new name after the Hellenistic Parliament ratifies the agreement. Even before the discussion can begin, however, the Greek parliament will need to survive the vote of confidence.

 

BY: MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)