ATHENS, Greece, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) – 69 percent of Greeks still opposes the Macedonia name agreement, according to a survey released on Sunday’s “To Vima” (The Tribune) local newspaper.
The 71 percent of respondents in the poll, conducted by polling firm Metron Analysis, said that, they will be referring to the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as Skopje, the name of its capital.
The parliaments of the two Balkan states ratified in Jan the agreement reached last summer, to end the name dispute which started in 1991, when FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia, choosing the name Macedonia, the same name as a province in northern Greece.
Athens had rejected the choice from the beginning, fearing future territorial claims and raising obstacles to FYROM’s accession to the EU and NATO.
Under the agreement, FYROM will be renamed the Republic of North Macedonia.
Although the Greek parliament was due to ratify in the first half of Feb also FYROM’s NATO accession protocol, according to the agreed timetable, the majority of Greek citizens seem to have not yet been persuaded to accept a name containing the word “Macedonia”.
The name agreement also caused the departure of the junior party from the Left-led government coalition in Greece in Jan, leaving Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras with a minority government, which controls 145 seats in the 300-member strong assembly.
Although the Greek leader insists that the general elections will be held in autumn this year, when the government’s term in office expires, several local media see snap elections this spring.– NNN-AGENCIES
