(ANSA) - SKOPJE, SEPT. 24 - Macedonia's president, Gjorgje
Ivanov (conservative party), said he will not vote in the
September 30 referendum on the agreement with Greece on the new
name of his country (Northern Macedonia), an agreement he has
strongly opposed. ''I already voted 27 years ago, on September
8, 1991, when in a referendum I was asked to vote in favour of a
sovereign and independent Macedonia'', said the president, taken
by the media in Skopje. ''I twice was asked by our citizens - he
added - not to change the constitution in order to insert into
it a different name for our country, not to accept ideas and
proposals which are dangerous for Macedonian national identity
and language. I do not intend to renounce these convictions of
mine, that is why I will not go to the polls on September 30''.
The international community has included the approval of the
agreement with Greece as one of the conditions for the
acceleration in Skopje's accession to EU and Nato. Ivanov and
the conservative opposition party Vmro-Dpmne, despite being in
favour of Macedonia's Euroatlantic integration, are opposed to
the agreement signed with Athens last June, because they believe
this deal is unconstitutional and detrimental to the contry's
interests. (ANSA).
© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved