As the election campaign in Greece heats up, the left wing SYRIZA party published a letter conservative former Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis wrote to US President George W. Bush in 2005, in which he says he accepts a solution under which Macedonia would still be called Republic of Macedonia domestically.

The letter is used in Greece to attack the conservative New Democracy party, which looks set to win the coming early general elections, as only pretending to have a strong position on the Macedonian issue. For Macedonians, though, the letter reveals just how far the Zaev Government went in accepting Greek requests with the 2018 Prespa treaty. The proposals at the time was for a name such as Republic of Macedonia – Skopje.

The name will be used for all official purposes within the United Nations system. Furthermore, the proposal urges other international organizations as well as States to make use of the aforementioned name for international official purposes. The constitutional name “Republika Makedonija” will continue to be used for internal purposes within FYROM, which means that no constitutional change that could have negative side effects on the 2001 Ohrid Agreement is required, Karamanlis wrote to Bush at the time.

The letter is sent half a year after President Bush ordered the recognition of Macedonia, by the United States, as the Republic of Macedonia, a position the US reversed by pushing for the Prespa treaty. Under the Prespa treaty, Macedonia was forced to implement substantial changes to its Constitution and to use the new name domestically, as well as in all international relations. This, according to the Greek left, is a major victory of the Tsipras Government over Macedonia.

Karamanlis eventually changed his position and demanded that Macedonia accepts a name such as “Republic of Skopje – Macedonia” as a price of admission into NATO at the 2008 Bucharest summit. Macedonia rejected the request.