The leader of the opposition, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, criticised the ruling SYRIZA party for agreeing to a name change with northern neighbours Macedonia, in a speech from the Greek parliament in Athens on Thursday.
Mitsotakis said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras handled the matter “without having the unanimous support of his cabinet which didn’t even hold a meeting.”
“This downhill needs to stop now before it’s too late. The future of our country can’t be mortgaged by a bad deal which doesn’t serve national interests. It’s irresponsible, dishonest to hand over the country, so you won’t have to give up power,” added Mitsotakis.
Mitsotakis has proposed a vote of no confidence in Tsipras, who is expected to sign a deal with Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in Prespa on Sunday.
The leaders of both countries reached a deal which would see the Republic of Macedonia change its name to ‘the Republic of North Macedonia’, in a bid to settle a long-standing dispute over the name.
Many in Greece have seen the name ‘Macedonia’ as posing a threat to the Greek state arguing that it implies a territorial claim over the eponymous region of northern Greece.
The Macedonia naming dispute dates back to Macedonia’s declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. As a result, international organisations and states that do not recognise the constitutional name ‘Republic of Macedonia’ refer to it as ‘the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ (FYROM).