Athens, 17 October 2024 (MIA) - North Macedonia's path to Europe passes through Greece and honors the Prespa Agreement, Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told reporters at Thursday’s media briefing in Thessaloniki, MIA's Athens correspondent reports.

Responding to a reporter's question regarding the country's EU perspective, the Prespa Agreement and a potential meeting between the two PMs, Marinakis Marinakis commented that he was glad to be asked and that he had the opportunity to respond from Thessaloniki, echoing the positions of the current Greek government.

He recalled that, as the opposition, they did not vote for the Prespa Agreement and that Mitsotakis then had said that "once it's voted in will not be annuled," and again reiterated why Greece has not yet ratified the memoranda, adding that first the neighboring country should to what was required.

"Honoring [the Prespa Agreement] is a necessary prerequisite for this path. It is not up for discussion, and neither will anything change regarding this position, which is also our national position. Consider how justified the Greek government and PM are for not rushing, as other parties in the Greek Parliament demanded, to ratify the relevant memoranda. It would have given everything away before our neighbors had done the minimum. We expect them to do the minimum, obviously, in order to have further discussions," Marinakis said. ssh/mr