The Final Agreement for the settlement of the differences described in Security Council resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993), the termination of the Interim Accord of 1995, and the establishment of a strategic partnership — the Prespa Agreement — was signed at Prespes on 17 June 2018 by Nikos Kotzias, minister for foreign affairs of the Hellenic Republic, and Nikola Dimitrov, minister for foreign affairs of the Second Party, in three copies, the English text authentic, witnessed by Matthew Nimetz, Personal Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General. Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev were present. The place was Psarades, on the Greek shore of Great Prespa. It is not the New York Interim Accord of 1995, which it terminates on entry into force.

Article 1: the official name of the Second Party shall be the “Republic of North Macedonia”, its constitutional name used erga omnes; the short name “North Macedonia”; nationality Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia; official language the “Macedonian language”; licence-plate codes NM or NMK, ISO remaining MK/MKD. Adoption is through an internal procedure that is both binding and irrevocable, including amendment of the Constitution. Upon entry into force, “Macedonia”, “Republic of Macedonia”, “FYROM” and the provisional name “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” shall cease to be used in any official context. Article 7 distinguishes, at framework level, two different historical and cultural understandings of the terms “Macedonia” and “Macedonian”. An irredentism or textbook-revision handbook is not transcribed.

The preamble reaffirms the existing frontier as an enduring international border, the inviolability of frontiers and non-interference, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the Helsinki Final Act. Article 2, at framework level: the Hellenic Party shall not object to the other Party’s membership of international organisations under the new name, including NATO and the EU, once the prescribed internal conditions are met. An accession timetable is not set out here.

Article 20: signed by the foreign ministers; ratification follows the sequence in Article 1; after internal legal procedures, written notifications within two weeks; it enters into force on the date of receipt of the last notification. UNTC: 12 February 2019. UNTS No. 55707. Article 8(5) applied provisionally until then.

Cover: the signing photograph at Prespa. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Prespa Agreement; Final Agreement for the settlement of the differences (UNTS No. 55707).