One of the details of the agreement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM) was clarified this week, when FYROM’s Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev admitted that his country will have to lose the right to declare its products as “Made in Macedonia’, if Greek producers decide to use this label.
As part of the deal Greek producers in the region of Macedonia will have three years to decide whether they will continue to label their products as “Made in Macedonia” or will instead opt to change it to “Made in Greece”.
“There are no aspirations to take our rights,” Zaev said, speaking to his country’s Economic Chamber.
“If we do not agree -and do not agree- on this issue, it does not mean that the Agreement is invalid,” he added, stressing that adopting the name ‘North Macedonia’ means that the country’s companies won’t have the right to the label, instead the exclusivity of it has been given to the Greek side.
“The final goal is within three years of the verification of the agreement, to discuss the two countries because some Greek producers may want to use ‘Made in Macedonia’ and here we have agreed the right to non-exclusivity.
“Our right is their right. We have no problem whether ‘Made in Macedonia’ will be writen for the region of Macedonia or for our Macedonia, as a state.
“However, a period of three years has been left to give Greece’s businesses the chance to make their own decision. If they decide to have ‘Made in Macedonia’ on their products, we are good with it.
“Greek producers may have issues with Macedonian companies using ‘Made in Macedonia’ and can block it, but this is after three years.”
Source: neoskosmos
