The President of Skopje, Gordana Silianovska, during the swearing-in ceremony referred to the country as “Macedonia”, despite the fact that in the text of the oath recited by the outgoing Speaker of the Parliament, Jovan Mitreski, calling on Silianovska to repeat it, the country was referred as “North Macedonia”.

The ambassador of Greece in Skopje, Sofia Filippidou, who had been invited to the Parliament session for the swearing-in of Gordana Silianovska, left as a sign of protest over the fact that the latter referred to the country as “Macedonia” during her swearing-in.

71-year-old Gordana Silianovska was elected President of Skopje in the second round of the presidential elections held on Wednesday, May 8, as a candidate of VMRO-DPMNE, defeating the previous President of the country, Stevo Pentarovski, with a percentage of 65%.

Parallel to the second round of the presidential elections, parliamentary elections were also held in the country, in which the right-wing opposition party VMRO-DPMNE won a great victory, capturing 58 of the 120 seats in the Parliament.

According to CNN Greece, this party started negotiations with the coalition of opposition Albanian parties “Vlen” for the formation of a government.

Earlier in an interview on Sunday evening, Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis referred to the survival prospects of the Prespa Agreement, after the elections in Skopje.

He reiterated that the country’s path towards the EU also goes through the faithful observance of the said Agreement, stressing that the Greek government is monitoring its implementation with duration and rigor and will make the necessary interventions.

Irrespective of the issues that the Prespa Agreement had from the beginning and which the New Democracy party had timely emphasized as the opposition at the time, this Agreement is an international treaty superior to any domestic law and should be respected by the parties, it is not allowed to revise it without the agreement of the parties, he says characteristically.

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