According to Greek professor Koppa: The Prespa Agreement is a fair deal for both parties


I think the Prespa Agreement is a good and fair deal, university professor Marilena Koppa writes in a column for the Greek daily Efimerida ton sidakton.

“The agreement closes the 26-year dispute and neither side is defeated or humiliated. Both sides win in the area they deem important: Greece the name, which effectively separates the independent country from the wider geographical region of Macedonia that belongs to three countries, and FYROM gains its identity and language,” Koppa writes adding: It is in Greece’s interest not to have a black hole on the northern border, left to Russian and Turkish influence, it is in its interest for the country to integrate into Euro-Atlantic institutions.’

Also, the Greek professor and ex-PASOK MEP gives in-depth answers to questions raised in Greece over the name deal, MIA’s Athens correspondent reports.

As regards the issue about Macedonian nationality, Koppa says that negotiations focused on material matters, including the name of the country and nationality, rather than on abstract issues.

“The right to self-determination exists and we cannot tell anyone not to feel as a Macedonian or as something else,” Koppa notes in the column in which she also refers to the preconditions for Macedonia to join NATO and the EU.