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GREECE-MACEDONIA-DIPLOMACY-POLITICS
No snap poll in Greece over Macedonia name hurdle: Tsipras
THESSALONIKI, Greece, Sept 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras on Sunday said his government would complete its four-year term
despite disagreement with his coalition partner over a disputed name deal
with Macedonia.
Tsipras said his coalition partner Panos Kammenos, head of the Independent
Greeks party, “will not endanger the country’s recovery and political
stability”.
“The country needs political stability,” he told a news conference in
Thessaloniki.
Elections are not scheduled for another year but Kammenos has vowed to do
everything in his power to block the deal, including leaving the government.
The preliminary agreement with Macedonia in June, to be confirmed by a
referendum by Skopje later this month and a Greek parliamentary vote early in
2019, will see the Balkan state renamed North Macedonia.
The tiny landlocked country had joined the United Nations in 1993 as the
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Greece also has a northern province named Macedonia, the heart of
Alexander the Great’s ancient kingdom, and many Greeks fear the deal will
officially enable Skopje to lay claim to their cultural heritage.
Some 7,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in Thessaloniki against the
name deal in a protest organised by local citizens and church groups. A small
group of protesters threw flares and stones at police, who responded with
tear gas.
Eight people were arrested, two of them minors.
The main opposition New Democracy party also rejects the deal, but
Tsipras, who controls 145 seats in the 300-seat parliament, could still get
it approved by simple majority with the help of lawmakers from smaller
parties or independents who have voiced support.
BSS/AFP/ARS/2005 hrs