Prespa Agreement
The Prespa Agreement, also known as the Treaty of Prespa, the Prespes deal or the Prespa accord, is an agreement reached in 2018 between Greece and the then-Republic of Macedonia, under the auspices of the United Nations, resolving a long-standing naming dispute between the two countries. Apart from resolving the terminological differences, the agreement also covers areas of cooperation between the two countries in order to establish a strategic partnership.
Signed beside the shared Lake Prespa, from which it took its name, and ratified by the parliaments of both countries, the agreement went into force on 12 February 2019, when the two countries notified the UN of the deal's completion, following the ratification of the NATO accession protocol for North Macedonia on 8 February. It replaces the Interim Accord of 1995 and sees the Republic of Macedonia's constitutional name changed to the Republic of North Macedonia erga omnes.
Name of the agreement
The Prespa Agreement is the short, informal name for the agreement, named after the place where it was signed, Lake Prespa. Its full name is Final Agreement for the settlement of the differences as described in the United Nations Security Council resolutions 817 and 845, the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995, and the establishment of a strategic partnership between the Parties.Background
Approximately two million ethnic Greeks identify themselves as Macedonians who typically view themselves as being unrelated to the ethnic Macedonians. Consequently, Greece further objected to the use of the term "Macedonian" for the neighboring country's largest ethnic group and its language. Greece further accused the Republic of Macedonia of appropriating symbols and figures that are historically considered part of Greek culture, such as the Vergina Sun and Alexander the Great. Moreover, Greece claimed that the Republic of Macedonia was promoting the irredentist concept of a United Macedonia, which involves territorial claims on Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, and Serbia.
Prior to the Prespa agreement, international organizations provisionally referenced the Republic of Macedonia as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
Contents of the agreement
The agreement provides that the Republic of Macedonia takes the name of Republic of North Macedonia. This new name is to be used for all purposes, that is, domestically, in all bilateral relations and in all regional and international organizations and institutions.The deal includes recognition of the Macedonian language in the United Nations, noting that it is within the group of South Slavic languages, and that the nationality of the country will be called Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia. Also, there is an explicit clarification that the citizens of the country are not related to the ancient Hellenic civilization that inhabited the northern regions of modern-day Greece. Specifically, Article 7 mentions that both countries acknowledge that their respective understanding of the terms "Macedonia" and "Macedonian" refers to a different historical context and cultural heritage. When reference is made to Greece, these terms denote the area and people of its northern region, as well as the Hellenic civilization, history and culture of that region. When reference is made to the Republic of North Macedonia, these terms denote its territory, language and people, with their own, distinctly different, history and culture.
Additionally, the agreement stipulates the removal of the Vergina Sun from public use in the Republic of North Macedonia and the formation of a committee for the review of school textbooks and maps in both countries for the removal of irredentist content and to align them with UNESCO and Council of Europe standards.
Reactions
The Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced on 12 June 2018 that an agreement had been reached with his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev on the dispute, "which covers all the preconditions set by the Greek side". The agreement was signed at Lake Prespa, a body of water which forms a partial common border between the Republic of North Macedonia, Greece and Albania.Political reactions
The international community reacted positively to the Prespa agreement, with the media dubbing it as "historic". The European Union welcomed it, with the European Council President Donald Tusk tweeting his "sincere congratulations" to Tsipras and Zaev. "I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks to you, the impossible is becoming possible," he said. EU Foreign Affairs chief Federica Mogherini and commissioner Johannes Hahn also issued a joint statement congratulating the two prime ministers "in reaching this historic agreement between their countries, which contributes to the transformation of the entire region of Southeast Europe." NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the agreement, stating that it will set the Republic of Macedonia on the path towards NATO membership. Additionally, the British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the agreement as being "fantastic news". "The agreement once and for always confirms and strengthens the Macedonian ethnic and cultural identity, the Macedonian language, the Macedonian nationality. It guarantees the security of the country and provides a secure future for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia", Zaev said.The domestic communities reacted more negatively to the agreement. In Macedonia, the President of the Republic, Gjorge Ivanov, declared that he would not sign the agreement, calling it "disastrous". Additionally, VMRO-DPMNE, the main conservative party at the time, also opposed the agreement, and pledged to organize public protests against it. In Macedonia, protests went violent at Skopje, and Macedonian SDSM MP Hari Lokvenec, who attended the Prespa ceremony, had his parliamentary vehicle set on fire at Bitola by unidentified perpetrators.
In Greece, Golden Dawn, a far-right party, and the Communist Party of Greece, a far-left party, opposed the agreement, with a Golden Dawn MP, Konstantinos Barbarousis, calling for military rule and firing squads to execute politicians responsible for the deal. As a result, Barbarousis was expelled from his party, and a warrant was issued for his arrest for high treason. He fled using his parliamentary vehicle but eventually was found and arrested. Additionally, the conservative New Democracy party filed a motion of no-confidence against Tsipras in parliament because of the name deal, which was rejected two days later with a simple parliamentary majority; 153 against it, 127 for. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the New Democracy party, had argued in this connection that the Greek foreign minister had no authority to sign the agreement, based on international legal arguments that were responded to by legal scholars. Following his departure as Greek foreign minister, Kotzias stated in October 2018 that key reasons for the Prespa agreement were to bring stability to the Balkans and to stop Turkish influence within the region.
Public reactions
In Greece, the deeply unpopular agreement had an instant negative impact on Tsipras's chances of staying in power. According to separate polls conducted by Marc and Ekathimerini, between 65% and 68% of Greeks were against the Prespes deal and what was contained within it. There were large public demonstrations in 2018 and 2019 against the Prespes deal in Athens and Thessaloniki that lasted days. There were also vast student sit-ins which affected 210 schools in Greek Central Macedonia alone. Despite the uproar, the protesters were accused of having links with the far-right/fascists. In response, famous composer and leftist Mikis Theodorakis, who was also against the Prespes deal, called the Syriza government 'left-wing fascists'. During the ratification of the Prespes deal, fake news promoted a possible territorial loss of Greek Macedonia and a sense of victimization and dehumanization that demanded emergency actions to protect Greece from North Macedonia and its Greek assistants. Furthermore, the Greek news coverage showed that several news stories tried to undermine the country's then-government.In North Macedonia, the majority of public perception was also against the deal but not to the same extent as the Greek public. According to polls conducted by Sitel TV, 45% of the public stated they felt negatively towards the deal while 44% said they felt positively towards it. Around half of those surveyed said they thought the government in Skopje did a good job during the negotiations with Greece against 40.7% who said it did not.
A June 2020 poll in North Macedonia, conducted by the National Democratic Institute, showed that 58% of Macedonians support the Prespa agreement and that there is also strong public support for the country's Euro-Atlantic direction, with 74% positive opinions for NATO and 79% positive opinions for accession to the European Union.
An October 2020 poll conducted in Greece by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in cooperation with the KAPA Research, shows that the Prespa Agreement is becoming increasingly accepted in Greece, with the majority of the Greeks viewing it positively; 25% consider it to be a good agreement, while 33% view it as an agreement with several compromises but necessary.