DW: Is the name dispute between Northern Macedonia and Greece being re-edged?

Greek Ambassador to the country Sophia Philipdidou, in protest, left the hall. Even the Foreign Ministry in Athens reacted by stating later that the country's new president's stance jeopardises bilateral relations and the Northern Macedonia's path towards the EU. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on the country to honour the agreements reached if it will remain on the road to EU membership.

Gordana Silianovska-Davidkova clearly won presidential elections Wednesday as a nationalist party candidate, V MRO-DPMNE against the Social Democrat candidate then in office, Stevo Pendarovski. In parliamentary elections V The MRO was also elected the most powerful parliamentary force, possibly the leader of the party, Hristija Mickoski, will form the new government. As the new president, Gordana Silianovska-Davidova and VMRO politicians had also announced in the elections, that they would no longer use the country's new official name, but that of Macedonia's former name.

Northern Macedonia has been an EU membership candidate since 2005. But the start of membership talks was postponed due to the name dispute with Greece.

In 2027 the ruling Social Democrats reached an agreement with Greece on the name change, which was implemented in 2019. Athens insisted on changing the name Macedonia, as a region in northern Greece bears the same name. The name change in Northern Macedonia also brought the country's NATO membership, and with that also the opening of the way for the start of membership talks.