Conflict with Macedonia: Greece's Foreign Minister resigns because of name dispute

Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will also take over the duties of Foreign Minister in the coming period. That informed his office. Shortly before, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias announced his resignation.

The trigger for the resignation is apparently a dispute in the Cabinet on the country name "Macedonia". According to Greek media sources, Kotzias fought a blow with right-wing populist Minister of Defense Panos Kammenos over the agreement between Athens and Skopje to settle the dispute over the name of Macedonia.

Accordingly, Kotzias accused the Minister of Defense of undermining the agreement. The previous Foreign Minister was considered the architect of the agreement. But right-wing populist Kammenos rejects the agreed renaming of Macedonia. He systematically fishes in nationalist waters and wants to prevent in any case, that the neighboring state in some form the name Macedonia bears.

Because Kotzias in the dispute then apparently did not receive enough support from Tsipras, he decided to resign, reported the Athens press, citing circles of the Foreign Ministry.

After decades, the two neighbors had agreed on a settlement in the name dispute. The Macedonian Parliament is currently debating the renaming of the Republic of North Macedonia. The parliament in Athens must agree.

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Greek-Macedonian agreement victory of the West, debacle for Russia

The name dispute is smoldering since Macedonia became independent in 1991 as a former republic of Yugoslavia. Greece rejects the name of the country Macedonia, because its province in the north is also called that.

Athens fears so far later territorial claims of the northern neighbor and therefore blocked so far a inclusion of the former Yugoslav republic in the EU and NATO. As a member of the UN, the country has been known as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

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In a non-binding referendum at the end of September, more than 90 percent of citizens in Macedonia voted for the renaming, but only one third of the voters participated.