PRESPA AGREEMENT THROUGH THE PRISM OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ITS IMPLEMENATATION IN THE NATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEM OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

The name issue is a constant factor in a Balkan puzzle with many variables. For the Macedonians, the name issue has turned into identity question. That should not have been the case: identity is a matter of self-determination, not recognition. Macedonians hoped that electoral victory of Syriza in 2015 would bring to office a government that would be more leftist than populist, which did not happen. Additionally, the Greek Orthodox Church has joined with inflammatory discourse, playing a political role that one would think that a leftist government wouldn’t allow them to play. Both governments, in Athens and Skopje, face different challenges since the beginning of the process. Although it was considered that Athens enjoys a historical, institutional, and geopolitical advantage, as it always did in this dispute and it was Greece has little to lose in the barraging game except “exclusive possession over history” the Prespa agreement was not accepted with applause. On the other side  North Macedonia was supposed  to  negotiate between its past and future, and the agreement brough mixed feelings and polarization of the society. Opposition was calling for invalidity of the treaty and protest were held in both capitals. The aim of this paper is to provide legal analysis of the process and the agreement from the point of international public law relieved from daily politics and populism.