Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos, Alexis Tsipras junior coalition partner, has called a joint meeting of his party’s parliamentary group and executive committee.
Kammenos’ hardline stance on the FYROM naming issue has divided the government, in which Kammenos serves as defence minister, refuses to accept any use of the name Macedonia by Athens.
That directly contradicts Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ stance, which includes acceptance of the name Macedonia, with a geographic or temporal (e.g. New Macedonia) qualifier.
Main opposition New Democracy has for weeks hammered the government of the split, declaring that it will not take a position unless the government agrees to a common line. Party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis later said he believes Greece should not settle affairs wil FYROM at this juncture, as the issue divides the Greek people.
“I will not divide the Greeks to help the Skopjans,” he declared at a recent meeting of the conservative party’s political committee.
