The Prespes Agreement is a mutually beneficial solution, FYROM VP Osmani says
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
FYROM Vice President Bujar Osmani, responsible for European Affairs, called the Prespes Agreement
“a mutually beneficial solution” in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Monday.
Osmani stressed that its implementation will ensure political and economic stability in the region.
Asked to comment on the reactions that exist on both sides regarding the Prespes Agreement, he said that the existence of opposition to the agreement in both countries, using similar phraseology regarding the process in each case, was proof of its “symmetry”.
If the deal were asymmetrical and benefited one side at the expense of the other, he explained, rather than a win-win solution, then there would be huge opposition in one country and much less in the other.
This “equal opposition in terms of its intensity and phrasal expression shows that this agreement was quite symmetric and mutually beneficial to both countries,” Osmani said, adding that “the majority of citizens in both countries understand how important it is for Greece to be ‘freed’ from this issue and return to its role in the Balkans.”
Asked what Greece’s role in the Balkans might be, he said that, in his opinion, “Greece is the ‘guiding light’ for the European integration of the entire region and must lead the process for its incorporation into the European Union. And with this transnational conflict, Greece was in a way isolated from this chance to lead the region along the path to the EU and NATO.”
Commenting on those opposing the agreement, Osmani said that he does not know whether they are nationalists or using the issue for political gain or for other reasons, but he expressed his certainty that, in the future, everyone will agree that this was the right decision and a good decision for both countries.
The Prespes Agreement to the Parliament’s Standing Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs
Source: ANA-MPA