Greek PM Tsipras faces pressure over Macedonia deal

The leader of the populist Independent Greeks, Panos Kammenos, on Tuesday signaled a new government crisis over the landmark name deal with neighbouring Macedonia.

Kammenos, who is also Greece’s Defence Minister, said that the deal must be approved with a referendum or early elections.

“We will not allow the agreement to move forward without the approval of the Greek people,” Kammenos, told newsmen in Athens.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his counterpart from Skopje, Zoran Zaev, agreed in June to end a row over the former Yugoslav republic’s name by renaming it the Republic of North Macedonia.

Tsipras already survived one no-confidence motion launched because of the deal.

The deal needs to be approved through several steps in Macedonia before Greece ratifies it as well.

Macedonian lawmakers were on Thursday due to once again ratify the agreement, after nationalist President Gjorge Ivanov vetoed it the first time.

If passed again, the bill automatically becomes law, but Zaev must also push it through a referendum and then weave the name change into the constitution.

Reflecting the opinion of many Greeks, Kammenos reiterated that the agreement to allow a neighbouring country to retain “Macedonia” in its name is “bad.

” Greece claims the name and the legacy for its ancient and modern-day province.

‘’Under the agreement, settling the dispute to differentiate the country which emerged from Yugoslavia in 1991 from the Greek province should lead to the end of Athens’ barring of it neighbour from NATO and the European Union.

“There can be no procedure in NATO before the referendum in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and until the deal is verified by the Greek parliament,” Kammenos said.