Kathimerini Greece Newsroom
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his North Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev have been officially nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, state-run Athens-Macedonian news agency has reported.
The two men created a paradigm for addressing identity politics that drive conflict not only in the Balkans but across the world. The name change resolves a dispute with Greece dating back to the country’s declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The breakthrough came last summer when Zaev and Tsipras agreed to a compromise under which Greece also lifted its objections to FYROM joining NATO and the European Union.
Tsipras and Zaev were nominated by European Parliament groups for their efforts to solve the decades-old name dispute between the two countries ANA-MPA said, citing a report by German news agency DPA.
After approving both the Prespes deal, changing the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and a protocol for its accession to NATO, Athens Tuesday sent a note verbale to the government in Skopje, informing it that the ratification procedure is complete.
The two countries must now send a joint letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Then North Macedonia must inform all international organizations of its name change.
