In its advantages Prespa Agreementboth for your country and for Greece and the wider area Balkan regionformer prime minister of North Macedonia says Zoran ZaevV his interview with “K”. Mr. Zaef, who was in Greece on the occasion of the Delphi Economic Forum, speaks of the close cooperation that now exists between the two countries and thanks the Greek government for both the assistance it has offered to his country during the pandemic and the support. it offers full NATO membership and its European perspective.

“It’s nicer than before because people saw the benefit of the deal. Our countries had some kind of economic cooperation before. But now, after Prespas, everything is open. Greece has invested a lot in North Macedonia, especially in energy, and during the coronavirus outbreak, Greece helped us by providing us with vaccines. We are now building a common energy market and trying to be resilient and better prepared for future energy crises. We are a small region and if we work together we will really become stronger.

– Some right-wing parties still do not accept it, but now it is in our constitution. This is not only the approval of the agreement in Parliament, but we changed the constitution through this agreement. I know that whatever happens in North Macedonia in the future, the constitution must be respected. Even opposition leader Christian Mikowski has publicly stated that there is no going back. So we must continue to the future. Since the Greek opposition at that time was against it, today, as a government, it finds ways and continues cooperation, because no one wants to destroy what is beneficial to both sides.

I am really very grateful to the Greek government, which supports our full membership in NATO.

– I BELIEVE that yes. They have to abide by the agreement, they have to follow the constitution, because they are one of the biggest parties in the country. Whether they remain in opposition or become government at some point, they must first and foremost respect our Constitution, because the Constitution is the country’s greatest legal document. Also, they need to be smart and keep working together because, after all, people want to have a better financial life. It should be noted that the region after the Prespa Agreement is changing not only in the energy sector, but also in agriculture, textile, metallurgy, everywhere. This is a very visible cooperation, while more than 2.5 billion euros of investments are expected from Greece in North Macedonia, energy and other sectors. The amount corresponds to 25% of our GDP. I am also very grateful to the new Greek government, which is not that new as you have elections, which supports our full NATO membership, which means stability and security. Prime Minister Mitsotakis, Minister Dendias and others have fought so hard for North Macedonia in the European Union, the European Council and the Council of Europe. This is what friends do and we are very grateful and our citizens know about it.

– Yes, of course, especially through the relationship with Greece. We can play an important role in connecting the network from Western Europe to Southern Europe, Africa and Asia.

“After Prespa, they see themselves closer to Greece. We were very close with Turkey and we remain, as there is a connection with citizens who have Turkish citizenship. But after Prespes, since Greece is our first neighbor and Turkey is not our neighbor, it became very noticeable that Greece is one of our truest friends, and we see this in the opinion polls. Polls now show that Greece is one of the top five friends of North Macedonia, whereas before Prespa it was one of our top three political enemies. Today I am very happy when I see families who communicate with each other, visit each other, come for shopping, for medical help, i.e. to the dentist while we come for coffee, food, shopping, especially in Thessaloniki. As a politician, I visit Greece very often because my children study in Thessaloniki and I meet many people. Everyone is so kind, but there are those who say: “Mr. Zaev, I am against prespas, but you are a good person. So let’s work together.”

– We believe that North Macedonia will become a member of the EU no later than 2030. In all these 17 years that there have been disputes over the name, we have changed a lot of legislation, we have used this time to harmonize our legislation with the European one, so we will have a faster accession process compared to other countries.