During the evening of Monday 30 July, the commissioner for enlargement negotiations, Johannes Hahn, hailed the decision taken by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to hold a referendum on 30 September on the “historic name agreement between FYROM and Greece”.
“I call upon all citizens of FYROM to make use of their democratic right to vote. It’s about their country’s and their own future!”, Hahn tweeted. The commissioner went on to say that the EU supported the agreement on the name and its implementation “as a symbol of reconciliation and good neighbourly relations in the region”.
The Macedonian parliament decided, on Monday 30 July, that the agreement on changing the name to Republic of North Macedonia would take place on 30 September. The people of that country should answer yes or no to the question: “Are you in favour of joining the EU and NATO, by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?”
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said that the referendum would have “consultative” status. In his view, the procedure on the agreement, and especially the change in the Constitution, should come to an end by mid-January 2019. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)