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Greek defence minister quits over Macedonia name deal Greek government in crisis over Macedonia name deal
(about 3 hours later)
Greece’s rightwing defence minister quit on Sunday in protest at a deal ending a long-running dispute with Macedonia over its name Greece has been plunged into political turmoil after the defence minister, who heads the coalition government’s nationalist junior partner, resigned, citing the landmark accord aimed at settling the decades-long dispute over Macedonia’s name.
The resignation of Panos Kammenos clouded the future of the coalition government months before national elections. With resolution of the row closer than ever before, Panos Kammenos said his rightwing populist party, Independent Greeks, was no longer able to support the prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist administration. “The issue of Macedonia, an issue for which thousands died, does not allow me not to sacrifice the minister’s chair,” Kammenos announced after holding talks with Tsipras on Sunday. Six ministers from his party would immediately withdraw from the government, he said.
Kammenos, whose Independent Greeks party props up the government of Alexis Tsipras, has long opposed the accord with neighbouring Macedonia signed by their governments last year. Tsipras, who has won international plaudits for his determined pursuit to end one of the world’s most arcane diplomatic disputes, responded by saying he would immediately seek a vote of confidence in his government. The vote will open with two days of debate on Tuesday.
“The Macedonia name issue ... doesn’t allow me not to sacrifice the minister’s chair,” Kammenos said after meeting the prime minister on Sunday morning. He said he would also pull six other ministers from his party out of the government. “I have informed the president of the parliament [of the vote] so that the government can complete its term in October 2019,” Tsipras said, adding he had had a “frank discussion” with Kammenos, whom he thanked for his government partnership. “In critical moments everyone assumes his responsibilities … in the national interest I will not go back, I will not falter.”
Responding to the resignation, Tsipras said that he will ask for a vote of confidence in Parliament in the coming week. He added he had a “frank discussion” with Kammenos, whom he thanked for his government partnership. The turmoil came less than 48 hours after the Macedonian prime minister, Zoran Zaev, succeeded in mustering the parliamentary support to push through the historical name-change accord in Skopje, one that will see the Balkan state being rechristened the Republic of North Macedonia. Under the deal, agreed last year, the Greek parliament must also ratify the accord, opening the way for Greece’s neighbour to start accession talks with Nato and the EU.
Tsipras also announced that Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will replace Kammenos as defense minister. At a hastily convened press conference, Kammenos defended his position, arguing that the agreement, known as the Prespa accord, would re-ignite “irredentist claims” over Greece’s own adjacent province of Macedonia. The name was irrevocably linked to Greek civilisation and culture, not least the legacy of the warrior king Alexander the Great, he told reporters.
Parliamentary elections are due in Greece by October. Tsipras’s coalition has 153 seats in the 300-strong parliament, 145 of them from his leftist Syriza party. But despite differences over the “great national issue”, the defence minister said he had never exchanged harsh words with Tsipras since both had first agreed to join forces at the height of the euro crisis in 2015.
Kammenos, who forged a coalition pact with Tsipras in 2015, never concealed his hostility to the deal with Skopje, which renames the tiny Balkan country Republic of North Macedonia. Echoing Kammenos’s conciliatory stance, the Greek prime minister insisted: “For the past four years I’ve had an honest and sincere collaboration with Panos Kammenos even if, as is known, we come from different political families.”
Greece has a province called Macedonia and long demanded Skopje change its country’s name to remove what Athens considered to be an implied claim to Greek sovereign territory. But from the outset, the unnatural coupling raised eyebrows. Although bonded by their common dislike of the tough austerity enforced on the debt-stricken country in return for bailout funds to keep it in the eurozone, the two political parties diverged in almost every other way.
Greece frustrated Macedonia’s aspirations to EU and Nato ties over the name dispute.
Kammenos has called the accord a national sellout and repeatedly threatened to leave if it came before the Greek parliament for ratification, expected later this month.
Kammenos said any deal including “Macedonia” in the name of the Balkan state to Greece’s north was unacceptable as the name was irrevocably tied to Greek civilisation and culture.
The main opposition, the conservative New Democracy party, which is leading pre-election polls, has said it will block the deal. The government hopes, however, that the pact will still pass with the support of centre-left and independent lawmakers.The main opposition, the conservative New Democracy party, which is leading pre-election polls, has said it will block the deal. The government hopes, however, that the pact will still pass with the support of centre-left and independent lawmakers.
Macedonia’s parliament ratified the deal by passing an amendment to the constitution on Friday.Macedonia’s parliament ratified the deal by passing an amendment to the constitution on Friday.
The two countries struck the deal on the new name in June last year, but Macedonia will start using it only after the parliament in Athens also approves the change.The two countries struck the deal on the new name in June last year, but Macedonia will start using it only after the parliament in Athens also approves the change.
A dispute over the matter triggered the resignation of Greece’s foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, in October. Kotzias was an architect of the accord but left because he felt insufficiently supported by Tsipras in clashes with Kammenos.A dispute over the matter triggered the resignation of Greece’s foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias, in October. Kotzias was an architect of the accord but left because he felt insufficiently supported by Tsipras in clashes with Kammenos.
GreeceGreece
EuropeEurope
MacedoniaMacedonia
Alexis Tsipras
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