The President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, during his official visit to the Hellenic Republic, today in Athens held a press conference for the representatives of the Macedonian media, who accompany the President at this visit.
After the meetings with the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President Pendarovski stressed that the most important thing is that the two highest political bodies in Greece confirmed that the Prespa Agreement is valid, respected and that there is political will for its full implementation. In that context, President Pendarovski reiterated the position that agreements must be safeguarded, protected and implemented, and that this is the main indicator of the seriousness of the parties signing and committing to them.
“We are absolutely serious in this; we have a clear political intention to implement everything that is written therein and, in that sense, I asked the Greek side for greater diligence regarding several elements, components of the Prespa Agreement, which, primarily due to Covid-19 are in a kind of “stand-by”, President Pendarovski said.
President Pendarovski confirmed that after some stagnation, the Commission for Trademarks and the Commission for Educational, Historical and Archaeological Issues will continue to work and that there is an announcement for their next meeting, regardless of the pre-election period in the Republic of North Macedonia. In that regard, President Pendarovski added that the Commission for Archaeological, Historical and Educational Issues, before the beginning of the pandemic, made significant progress and adopted and harmonized four minutes.
Regarding the meeting with Prime Minister Mitsotakis, President Pendarovski said that he asked for help and support to unblock Macedonia’s European integration at the upcoming European Union-Western Balkans Summit, noting that the Prespa Agreement is an agreement on establishing a strategic partnership between North Macedonia and Greece.
“We expect support and assistance from him in relation to those representatives of the member states who are still skeptical, first of all Bulgaria, and of course with others who could possibly have some remarks about the second country that you know has been treated informally so far “in a package with us” – the Republic of Albania”, President Pendarovski said.
President Pendarovski added that at the meetings with the Greek state leadership he expressed gratitude for the donation of 20,000 vaccines, as well as for the assistance in dealing with the fires on the territory of the municipality of Gevgelija.
“We have practically shown how European solidarity works and how it should continue to work, regardless of where there are problems of this type”, President Pendarovski said.
