Klimkin congratulates Macedonia, Greece on reaching agreement
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin has congratulated Greece and Macedonia on the settlement of the dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic since 1991.
"I congratulate Macedonia and Greece with the achievement of a historic agreement," Klimkin wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
He noted that during the meeting with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, which was held in Ohrid on April 11,"I was sure that the necessary decision would be found." "Civilized countries profess European approaches," Klimkin added.
As reported, the governments of Greece and Macedonia agreed that it is acceptable for both states to name the latter "Northern Macedonia." A corresponding change will be made to the constitution of the country. At the same time, the citizens of the country will, as before, be called Macedonians, the nationality is Macedonian, and the language in the UN is Macedonian.
However, in the fall of this year, a decision reached at the level of the two governments will be made in the nationwide referendum in Macedonia. In addition, the governments of the two countries will sign the relevant treaty.
After the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia entered the UN under the official name of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, despite the fact that in the country's constitution the name of the country was indicated as the Republic of Macedonia. Greece was against this name, one of the regions of which is also called Macedonia. At the same time this state was called Skopia on Greek maps by the name of its capital Skopje. The position of Greece for many years has been hampering the integration of Macedonia into a number of international European institutions.