Greece
played down on Wednesday a gaffe by its migration minister who failed to use
the full name of northern neighbor the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
(FYROM) and said his focus must remain on tackling an escalating migration
crisis.
Yannis Mouzalas inadvertently referred to
the country as Macedonia during a late-night interview on Tuesday. He quickly
apologized, but faced calls for his resignation from Defense Minister Panos
Kammenos, who said it was a serious matter for his right-wing Independent Greeks
party, junior coalition partner of the ruling left-wing Syriza party.
The government defended Mouzalas, saying the
row was a dangerous distraction from his efforts to deal with Europe's worst
migration crisis since World War Two. "We're not talking about a
government crisis," government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili told a regular
news briefing. "We're talking about a verbal faux pas."
She said Mouzalas had "put all of his
efforts, beyond human limits" to tackle the migration crisis, adding that
any decision on his fate would be taken after Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
returns from an EU leaders' summit in Brussels on Friday.
Many Greeks feel a strong emotional tie to
the name Macedonia, used historically to describe the birthplace of Alexander the
Great and part of ancient Greece. Kammenos said he had conveyed his concerns to
Tsipras. "I continue to support this government and Tsipras until the end
but I have red lines. Since the minister recognizes that he made a huge gaffe,
he should go home," Kammenos said.
The ruling coalition has just a three-seat
majority in the 300-member parliament and needs the Independent Greeks party on
side to pass reforms under a third financial bailout clinched last year. The
spat is unlikely to wreck the coalition but reflects underlying differences
between two parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Macedonia lies on the now closed Balkan
migration route that refugees have used on their way from Greece to wealthier
western Europe. The closure has led to logjams along the border, with more than
12,000 refugees and migrants camped there.
Macedonia has accused Greece of doing too
little to manage the migration crisis despite receiving EU funds. On Tuesday
Macedonia said it had trucked about 1,500 migrants back to Greece after they
forced their way across the border. Greek authorities said there had been no
official contact with Macedonia, so they could not confirm the return.
"If we do not start to cooperate (with
Greece) as two neighboring countries, it is certain that these incidents will
be repeated and get more complicated," Macedonia's President Gjorge Ivanov
said of the incident on Tuesday.
Πηγή: Bloomberg
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