{"id":142343,"date":"2018-06-17T10:57:20","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T10:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/macedonia-name-dispute-pms-watch-as-ministers-sign-historic-deal\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T10:57:20","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T10:57:20","slug":"macedonia-name-dispute-pms-watch-as-ministers-sign-historic-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/macedonia-name-dispute-pms-watch-as-ministers-sign-historic-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Macedonia name dispute: PMs watch as ministers sign &#8216;historic&#8217; deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (right) and Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on 17 June 2018\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/38C0\/production\/_102082541_047508463-1.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  AFP<figcaption>Image caption                                      Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (right) met Zoran Zaev near the border between the two countries                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Greece and Macedonia have signed a deal that aims to settle a decades-long dispute over Macedonia&#039;s name. <\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, Greece&#039;s neighbour will be known as North Macedonia.<\/p>\n<p>Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said it was &quot;a brave, historic and necessary step for our peoples&quot;.<\/p>\n<p>Heated rows over Macedonia&#039;s name have been going on since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, of which it was a part, and have held up Macedonia&#039;s entry to Nato and the EU.<\/p>\n<p>Greece has long argued that by using the name Macedonia, its neighbour was implying it had a claim on the northern Greek province also called Macedonia. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Full story: What&#039;s the name row about?<\/li>\n<li>The man who has focused on one word for 23 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The two countries&#039; leaders announced the deal on Tuesday and have pressed ahead despite protests.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev watched as their foreign ministers signed the deal on Lake Prespa on Greece&#039;s northern border on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement still needs to be approved by both parliaments and by a referendum in Macedonia. <\/p>\n<p>Nationalists on both sides say it erodes their identity.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday Mr Tsipras survived a no-confidence vote over the deal amid accusations he made too many concessions. <\/p>\n<h2>Picturesque ceremony<\/h2>\n<p><strong>By Guy De Launey, BBC Balkans Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It looked like the setting for a wedding. A white marquee erected on the banks of a picturesque lake. And indeed, one of the participants was agreeing to change its name. <\/p>\n<p>After almost three decades of dispute, the northern neighbour of Greece should soon become North Macedonia.<\/p>\n<p>An elderly man in the audience nodded and smiled. This was Matthew Nimetz - the UN mediator who has spent a quarter of a century trying to find a solution acceptable to both countries. <\/p>\n<p>He called the prime and foreign ministers &quot;four outstanding leaders&quot; with &quot;political courage, vision and diplomatic skills&quot;. <\/p>\n<h2>What happens now?<\/h2>\n<p>There is still some way to go before the name change becomes official.<\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  AFP<figcaption>Image caption                                      Demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to protest against the agreement                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Macedonia&#039;s parliament first needs to back the deal. That would be followed by a referendum in September or October.<\/p>\n<p>If voters there support it, the government would have to change the constitution, which is a key Greek demand.<\/p>\n<p>Things have been complicated further as Macedonia&#039;s President Gjorge Ivanov is refusing to sign the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>He has the power to veto the deal - but not indefinitely. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  EPA<figcaption>Image caption                                      The Macedonian president has the power to veto the name deal                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If he refuses to sign it, it will be sent back to parliament for a second vote. If it passes again, President Ivanov would then be obliged to approve the legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The deal will finally have to be ratified by the Greek parliament, a process which may also not be straightforward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright AFPImage caption Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (right) met Zoran Zaev near the border between the two countries Greece and Macedonia have signed a deal that aims to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}