The 18th Congress of VMRO took place in North Macedonia, at which Prime Minister Kristian Mickoski was ceremoniously re-elected as president. His speech was, of course, full of references to "Macedonia" and not once did he refer to his country by the name "North Macedonia", while there were constant references to the irredentist past of the nationalist VMRO.
We know that the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis was shouting about the Prespa Agreement – it would probably light candles for Alexis Tsipras and Nikos Kotzias, who took on the political cost of ending this pending issue, even if in the way it was resolved, ultimately justifying Skopje nationalism – but we did not expect such mockery. Primarily towards the supporters and voters of ND who were demonstrating for “Macedonia”.
Seven years in power, now, ND, and neither the previous nor the current political leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have bothered to deal with the major issue of respecting even the commitments provided for in the Agreement for the Skopje side. And so, little by little, they are securing through the slippage (which Athens allows) the use of the name "Macedonia" almost everywhere, leaving "North Macedonia" to the absolutely mandatory uses (e.g. in the UN, the EU and NATO).
Unfortunately, the responsibility for this outcome does not belong to the previous government, but exclusively to the New Democracy government...
