High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Federica Mogerini, raised pressure in Greece with the decision to refer to us as Macedonia.
Greek MEPs immediately reacted, while a huge part of the Greek media condemned Mogerini, noting that she provoked Greece by rather than the temporary reference, she addressed us with Macedonia, speaking about the situation in the country at a joint press conference with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Greek MEPs indirectly demands apology to Greece and appeal it this omission of the head of European diplomacy to never repeat.
“Provocation: Mogerini called Skopje Macedonia”, “Vice President of the European Commission names Skopje as Macedonia”, “Mogerini provokes” are just some of the numerous titles in the Greek media after the press conference of Mogerini and Hahn, on which it was sent a message for concern about the events in the country and an appeal for faster resolution of the political crisis.
In order to correct the head of European diplomacy and to protect the Greek position, their reactions had MEPs of PASOK and New Democracy. New Democracy MEP Manolis Kefaloyiannis assessed the address to our country as Macedonia as totally unacceptable, urging Mogerini to be more cautious in the future and not do such, according to him, unfortunate mistakes.
– We call Mogerini to immediately correct the error and to be more cautious in the future when dealing with issues that are sensitive for the entire Greek people and flagrantly violating historical truth – emphasizes Kefaloyiannis in the response to Mogerini.
In a similar tone, with an attempt to lecture Mogereini, immediately reacted MEPs of PASOK Nikos Androulakis and Eva Kaili, reminding the head of European diplomacy that the EU has decided our country to be named by the provisional reference and asking her to correct the error. Kaili and Androulakis even refer to specific decisions of the EU to point out to Mogerini the great mistake on her part.
“We are surprised and concerned by your response during the press conference, in which, speaking of your visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, you refer to the state with the term “Macedonia”. According to the decisions of the Council of General and Foreign Affairs from 2005, until a solution with Greece is found, the EU has decided to use the interim reference FYROM for all EU documents. Additionally, the general secretary Catherine Day, in a note in August 2014, said that it is necessary to observe the practice in all European documents to use the reference “the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, adding that the Commission cannot use the term “Republic of Macedonia” or just “Macedonia”. Please make all necessary steps to correct the error and to avoid such contradictions in the future,” wrote Kaili and Androulakis.
