Large majority of northern Greeks strongly reject Tsipras-Zaev deal on Macedonia name dispute, poll shows

People believe the deal made the problem worse

The citizens of northern Greece overwhelmingly reject the recent deal reached between PM Alexis Tsipras and his FYROM counterpart Zoran Zaev at Prespes Lake on the name dispute.

According to a poll conducted by pollsters “Interview” on behalf of Thessaloniki publication “ThessNews”, 86% of the respondents believe the deal was “bad” compared to only 12% who consider it to be “good”.

The poll also revealed that 83% believed that not only had the agreement failed to solve the issue but in fact had made the problem worse.

The majority of respondents, 71%, said they were disturbed by government concessions, including the name “Northern Macedonia”, “Macedonian ethnicity” and “Macedonian” language. Only 7% say they are not bothered.

Finally, 87% believe that the country offered FYROM more than it got while only 2% responded that the gains were more than the losses.