Editorial Ta Nea: Ghosts

The FYROM naming agreement signed at Prespes is opposed by the majority of Greek citizens, and in FYROM the climate is not very positive either.

That does not mean that everyone who opposes the agreement, each for his own reasons, political or emotional, is a pawn and follows the orders of dark power centres or is on the take.

It means that if illegal activity is uncovered by authorities in the two countries, that should be based on proof. It is inconceivable for the prime minister of a country to allege, without evidence, that Greek businessmen are attempting to buy off citizens in order to undermine the agreement.

It is inconceivable for the relations between two countries to be disrupted by the expulsion of diplomats, without clear indications of their activities.

This agreement has many who are opposed to it. Those who inspired it, the prime ministers in Athens and Skopje, maintain that they are confronted with certain people who view it in a hostile manner. That is possibly true.

As long as they do not provide evidence for that assertion, they will not only be manufacturing enemies. They will be chasing ghosts. The chasing of ghosts, with all its negative implications – suspicion, a sense of injustice, and rage over charges that seem unsubstantiated – is the last thing that the two neighbouring countries and their citizens need right now.