Greek alternate Foreign Minister Markos Bolaris also denied the report that a swap was proposed under which the Alexander the Great statue in Skopje, Macedonia would be given to Greece in exchange for the Runner statue now placed in Athens.

Like Greek Culture Minister Zorba before, Bolaris also denied that such a move was planned. But, he boasted to the Greek media that the Government is making progress in forcing Macedonia to alter its history books in line with Greek official positions.

In the past four, five, six months we had a continuous stream of incredible lies and fake news in online media, and sometime in the main TV news reports. Such fake news were also spread over the review of history books, said Bolaris.

According to the official, under the Prespa treaty Macedonia has until the end of the school year to rewrite its books.

The treaty binds the parties to remove all irredentist or revisionist materials from their school books, Bolaris said, adding that this obligation doesn’t affect Greece because Greece is already “an EU member state and has no such materials in its books”.

The obligation to rewrite history is tied to Macedonia’s EU progress, meaning that Greece will be able to block implementation of its obligations under the treaty and again stop Macedonia’s EU accession if it is not satisfied with what is taught in Macedonian schools. A similar obligation is imposed on Macedonia under the treaty signed with Bulgaria.