FYROM’s President Georgi Ivanov announced his decision on Tuesday not to sign the agreement with Greece.

In an open official letter, he says he has no mandate to sign the agreement, recalling that one of his key positions in 2014, when he took office, was that he would not accept changes to the country’s constitution.

“I do not accept ideas or suggestions that could jeopardize the national identity of the ‘Macedonians’, the ‘Macedonian’ national identity and the ‘Macedonian’ language. In the presidential election, 534,910 citizens voted in favor of these positions and me, as President of the ‘Republic of Macedonia’. This agreement goes beyond the provisions of the resolutions 817 (1993) and 845 (1993) because they refer to the disagreement on the name of the state and not generally to disputes as this agreement does”, Ivanov said.

According to him the agreement has no constitutional basis and is not in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the country. “The agreement brings the ‘Republic of Macedonia’ to a position of dependence and submission to another country, in this case, Greece. According to Article 308 of the Criminal Code, any citizen who leads the country to that position should be sentenced to five years’ imprisonment”, he said.

Following this development, the deal is expected to go back to the Parliament, and if it is re-voted, President Ivanov will no longer have the right to veto it.