Atanasovski: It will soon be known whether Siljanovska Davkova's incident is just an aberration or a new trend in relations with Greece

Analyst Blagojce Atanasovski stated for Kosovo Online that it would soon become clear whether the incident involving the new President of North Macedonia, Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, at the swearing-in ceremony had been just an aberration in Skopje's or Athens' relations or whether a new state foreign policy would be established.

As he emphasized, everything will become clear very soon since Greece reacted immediately.

"We will see this very soon because the reactions of our southern neighbor were quick and at the highest level by the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who expressed hope that the future government will respect the Prespa Agreement, or the provisions of this agreement, as he himself said and elaborated. Despite being opposed to the Prespa Agreement, he decided to respect it for the sake of Greece's state-legal continuity, and he expects the same from our future, newly established government," he stressed.

He added that there had been reactions from the European Union as well.

"Considering that there were significant reactions not only from the Greek Prime Minister but also from representatives of the European Union, after Gordana Siljanovska Davkova's inauguration, where she did not use the constitutional name during the solemn oath in the Parliament, we will soon see whether this will be just an 'aberration' in our relations with Greece or whether a new state foreign policy will be established that will turn the policy 180 degrees," the analyst said.

When asked about the potential consequences on the international level of the "defiant" behavior of the new government and whether it is just pandering to the domestic audience or a signal of a policy shift, Atanasovski emphasizes that there will be a shift if it becomes a new trend.

"We will see a policy shift if it becomes a trend or continuity in her communication as president and supreme commander of the armed forces. There are still some discordant statements from her cabinet, there were announcements that the president will respect the constitutional name Republic of North Macedonia as a legalist but will use it in colloquial use. What this means and whether it will be accepted by the Greek political elite and the Greek Prime Minister, we do not know. But, certain problems can certainly arise in the relations between Macedonia and Greece, problems that we have not had in the last five years since signing the Prespa Agreement. We know that practically since Macedonia's establishment as an independent state in 1991, we have had an open issue and difficult mutual state-diplomatic relations with our southern neighbor," Atanasovski emphasized.