Macedonia name deal cripples Greek government coalition

Greece’s conservative defence minister said yesterday that he was pulling his party out of government in protest at a deal to end a lengthy dispute with Macedonia over its name.

The resignation of Panos Kammenos plunged the future of the coalition government into uncertainty and raises the possibility of snap elections.

Mr Kammenos, whose Independent Greeks party has been a member of the government of Alexis Tsipras since 2015, has long opposed the accord with neighbouring Macedonia, which the latter ratified formally on Friday.

After meeting the prime minister yesterday, Mr Kammenos said he would also pull six other ministers from his party out of the government. His party has seven MPs, enough to get Mr Tsipras’s administration past the threshold of 150 deputies in the 300-member parliament. Mr Tsipras’s Syriza party has 145 seats and the support of an independent politician.

The departure of his political ally leaves the prime minister short of a parliamentary majority. Mr Tsipras said yesterday he would call for a confidence vote in his government, which is expected to take place later this week.

Mr Kammenos has been publicly hostile to the deal with Skopje, which renames the Balkan country Republic of North Macedonia.

Because Greece has a province called Macedonia, it has long demanded Skopje change the country’s name.

Athens claims its neighbour’s name is an implied claim to Greek territory. For decades, the northern state has been known as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to be able to join international organisations, but it was insufficient for Greece to agree any EU or Nato accession talks with Skopje.

Mr Kammenos rejected any claims to the name Macedonia on the part of the Balkan country and said the deal was a national sell-out.

The government is hoping the deal will still go ahead with the support of centre-left and independent legislators.

Greece and Macedonia had formally agreed to the EUbrokered deal in June last year, but ratification is needed from the parliaments of both countries for it to become effective.