​FROM THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION TO THE
PRESPA AGREEMENT

Documenting breaches of the Prespa Agreement in Canada

Contents

  1. Position Statement on the Prespa Agreement

  2. Overview of the Macedonian Question to the Prespa Agreement​

  3. Chronology of the Macedonian Question to the Prespa Agreement​

1. Position Statement on the Prespa Agreement

The Hellenic Canadian Research Institute (the Hellenic Institute) seeks to document and report on breaches of the Prespa Agreement that may take place on Canadian soil by politicians, media and other organizations. Since the Prespa Agreement has come into force, two federal politicians - one Liberal and one Conservative - have breached the agreement at two different events hosted by a North Macedonia community organization in Toronto in 2020 and in 2024.

The Prespa Agreement (also known as the Prespes Agreement) is an agreement that was reached on 12 June 2018 between Greece and the then "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" or "(FYROM)", under the United Nations' auspices, resolving a long-standing dispute over the latter's name.

The agreement was signed in an official ceremony on 17 June 2018 in Psarades, a tiny village in the Prespes lake district, in Macedonia, Greece, where it took its name and was ratified by the parliaments of both countries the following year. It came into force on 12 February 2019 when the two countries notified the United Nations of the deal's completion, following ratification of the NATO accession protocol for North Macedonia on 8 February 2019. The agreement replaced the Interim Accord of 1995 (Prespa Agreement, Article 1.1) between both countries and sees the country's constitutional name, then the "Republic of Macedonia", changed to the "Republic of North Macedonia" erga omnes (Prespa Agreement, Article 1.3a), that is, domestically, in all bilateral relations and in all regional and international organizations and institutions.

It should be noted that the agreement is specifically between two independent and equal countries, not between two ethnicities. It is precisely how one should and must understand it. The Prespa Agreement cannot be superseded by any other agreements or treaties nor revoked, and its provisions are legally binding for both parties in terms of international law and will remain in force indefinitely (Press Release UNSG, 2019; Syrigos, 2019; Templar, 2019).