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The newly elected government in North Macedonia has disregarded the Prespa Agreement, an agreement between Greece and then-FYROM to resolve its name dispute, claims on Hellenic culture and history, and irredentist claims against Greece.
It is critical that the North Macedonian government acknowledge that international agreements are binding -- not optional.
President Biden has signed an Executive Order outlining sanctions against those who, among other things, violate the Prespa Agreement.
Sign on to our letter to the State Department asking it to remind authorities in Skopje of President Biden’s executive order and its applicability to them and their behavior.
The Honorable James O’Brien
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
United States Department of State
Dear Assistant Secretary O’Brien,
On behalf of the membership of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, I am writing to express deep concern on behalf of the members over stability in the Western Balkans caused by the new government of the Republic of North Macedonia. The consistent undermining of the Prespa Agreement by the new leadership in Skopje is unacceptable for a member of NATO and threatens the integration of the Western Balkans into the European Union.
In May, North Macedonia’s new president Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova called her country “Macedonia” in her oath of office and refused to back down when faced with criticism of this blatant violation of the Prespa Agreement. In June, North Macedonia’s newly elected Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski repeatedly used the name “Macedonia” in his remarks, saying he found his country’s new name, under the agreement, “shameful.” At the end of June, President Siljanovska-Davkova referred to “Aegean Macedonia,” a reference to Greece’s region of Macedonia. And this past week, Prime Minister Mickoski referred to his country as “Macedonia” at the sidelines of the NATO Summit.
The actions on the part of North Macedonia’s newly elected government officials are deliberate and are in blatant violation of both the spirit and the very letter of the Prespa Agreement. Unless there are consequences to such repeated breaches of the agreement, North Macedonia's new government will escalate its rhetoric and actions and continue to act as if the agreement were never signed – a strategy that would transform the stability achieved in the Western Balkans over the last several years into another flashpoint.
It is disappointing to note that the US Ambassador to North Macedonia, Angela Price Aggeler, has not followed in the tradition of US diplomats who helped encourage stability and good neighborly relations in the region, and specifically between Athens and Skopje. Instead, her references to “certain leeway” and her lack of rhetorical support for the erga omnes requirement in the Prespa Agreement threatens the very neighborly relations she lauds and the EU prospects for North Macedonia that she encourages. We request that the Department of State clarify its position on the Prespa Agreement and explain the contradictions between the rhetoric of Ambassador Aggeler and representations made by State Department officials involved in the Prespa Agreement, including former Assistant Secretary Philip Reeker, former Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Palmer, and former US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt and current US Ambassador to Greece George Tsunis.
Recognizing the importance of the Prespa Agreement to such stability in the region, on June 8, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order that lists such obstruction of the Prespa Agreement as a sanctionable offense, authorizing sanctions against those who are “responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in, a violation of, or an act that has obstructed or threatened the implementation of, any regional security, peace, cooperation, or mutual recognition agreement or framework or accountability mechanism related to the Western Balkans, including the Prespa Agreement of 2018…”
We urge that authorities in Skopje be reminded of President Biden’s executive order and its applicability to them and their behavior. The consistent rhetorical undermining of the Prespa Agreement by the new government of North Macedonia must be publicly and unequivocally addressed; it can lead to the same rupture in diplomatic relations and regional tensions as an immediate disavowal of the Agreement.
We appreciate your consideration of this matter and look forward to working with you on promoting stability in the Western Balkans.
Endy Zemenides
Executive Director
Hellenic American Leadership Council (HALC)
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