“The [FYROM-Greece] agreement will not be tabled in parliament for ratification without the opinion of the Greek people being registered. The Greek people will decide, unless it is ratified by 180 MPs,” Independent Greeks leader and Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference.

Kammenos said that for the agreement to be ratified in Greece, there must first be a referendum or elections must be held. This, however, is not required by law.

Kammenos said that he will withdraw his support for the government, if and when the accord is tabled in parliament.

Many view Panos Kammenos’ positions and statements as a farcical comedy, with his shilly shallying between supporting and not supporting the government.

A few days ago, he gave the government a confidence vote.

However, seeing that the FYROM accord is extremely unpopular, and fearing the loss of MPs and cadres from his party, and a possible routing of the independent Greeks in the next elections, he has decided to be on both sides of the issue.

“The agreement signed at Prespes is bad. I do not accept it and I will attempt to block it,” Kammenos said, adding that elections or a referendum must precede ratification.

Kammenos said that if the agreement reaches parliament, he will withdraw his support from the government, and then visit the President of the Republic and demand elections. Kammenos is the junior partner in the ruling coalition.

Kammenos said that the Greece-FYROM accord does not bind Athens until it is ratified by the Greek parliament. All the other preconditions for the agreement to take effect must be completed by Skopje.

“The presupposition for an invitation to Nato for Skopje was the ratification of the agreement by the FYROM Parliament, but that ratification is not valid because it has not been signed by President Ivanov,” Kammenos said.

In fact, if after a veto from Ivanov the FYROM parliament ratifies the accord again, then Ivanov is required to sign.