Outgoing Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani continues to undermine Macedonia’s positions even as he is days away from leaving office.

During the regional summit in Skopje held today, Osmani blamed Macedonian institutions of undermining the Prespa Treaty with Greece, because they have refused to change their names in line with the imposed “new name”. Osmani particularly singled out the Macedonian Radio Television and the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The Zaev regime changed the names of a number of institutions, often replacing the term Macedonian with “national”, but some of the institutions rejected his pressure. On the other hand, Osmani insisted that Greece has upheld its obligations in the Prespa Treaty because it allowed Macedonia to join NATO.

His comments come at a time when Greece is renewing pressure on Macedonia on the issue of the Prespa Treaty, as the incoming Government and newly elected President Siljanovska said that they will not use the imposed name in their public events. Greece has refused to ratify memorandums for cooperation that are part of the treaty, or to use the name in a way that would signal to its own citizens that Maceodnia reserves the right to use the word Macedonia. Not to mention that the most important promised benefit – Macedonia’s long awaited EU accession – has failed to materialize as Bulgaria, inspired by the concessions Greece got in Prespa, began to impose its own nationalist demands on Macedonia.