Gordana tosses the Macedonian salad

North Macedonia's new president is trying to reintroduce a double-name proposal rejected years ago

North Macedonia’s new president Gordana Siljanova-Davkova

Gordana Siljanova-Davkova sparked a diplomatic crisis with Greece on Sunday May 12, when she swore herself in as president of Macedonia, a country that ceased to exist in 2018 following an agreement with Greece to call itself North Macedonia.

The Greek foreign ministry and prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the Greek view very clear; that this violated the 2018 Prespes Accord and violated the North Macedonian constitution, which was modified in 2019 to reflect the new name.

There were also barbs. The foreign ministry said that North Macedonia’s path to Europe lies through the full implementation of the agreement. Mitsotakis said “we won’t accept similar slipups.” What does all this mean? That Greece is ultimately prepared to veto North Macedonian EU entry, and this goes back to what Mitsotakis said as opposition leader in 2018, when the Prespes Agreement was signed – that there would be another point of leverage to improve on the agreement when the moment of EU accession arrived.