Nimetz: Failure to ratify Prespa Agreement would have profound consequences

UN mediator Matthew Nimetz  for the name dispute talks between Greece and Macedonia, said that failure to ratify the Prespa Agreement would have profound consequences for both sides, Kathimerini reports.

“If the Prespa Agreement does not come into effect, the consequences of the failure will be profound and both sides might well reconsider many elements that had been agreed to,” Nimetz said in an interview with Greek news agency  ANA-MPA. Nimetz said he did not believe a “quick fix” would be likely in that case.

“I can foresee many different scenarios that might be possible, some of them quite risky,” he said.

Nimetz said he believed it “would take years” before the two sides could reach an alternative agreement on the dispute.

“There are likely to be different political dynamics in both countries, as well as changes in the regional and global environment,” he said.

Asked if the language would be referred to by the UN as Macedonian, Nimetz said the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names in its multilingual list of names had accepted Macedonian under the listing for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.