Macedonia Online (MINA), a website focusing on issues of relevance to Skopje, reports taht Alexandra Papadopoulou was removed from her post as Greek Ambassador in Brussels because she failed to follow orders related to Greece’s line on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

The site refers to reportage in Greek daily Kathimerini that suggests that her removal may have been linked to disciplinary offenses, including a request from Greece’s top diplomat on June 22 to veto Skopje’s integrations in the EU, something Mrs. Papadopoulou decided not to do. Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias had told Greek Parliament that a diplomat has no right to withdraw a veto placed by a minister on an important national issue even if that diplomat does not agree, thus suggesting that this may have had something to do with her removal.

Other media outlets point to her refusal to veto another EU document refering to the rights of the Greek minority in Albania. Prior to her post in Brussels, Papadopoulou had served as ambassador to the FYROM. In Brussels, she had refused to veto the FYROM’s EU conclusions that had been adopted in Luxembourg on June 23, including one that stated that the FYROM had the full right to become a member despite the outstanding name dispute with Greece.

Despite her removal, Papadopoulou is still a member of the Greek Foreign Ministry however has to choose between Montevideo (Uruguay), Kinshasa (Congo) and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) for her next post.

Former foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis was highly critical of Papadopoulou’s removal.