File photo taken on Sept. 7, 2018 shows Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Athens, Greece. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accepted on Oct. 17 the resignation of Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, according to an e-mailed press statement issued from the Premier's office. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)
By Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent a strong message abroad and within the government coalition in Athens on Wednesday of his "decisiveness to succeed" in pulling the country out of the debt crisis and implementing the agreement to settle the name dispute with Macedonia, or formally FYROM.
In an emailed statement after Nikos Kotzias stepped down from the helm of the Foreign Ministry, the Greek leader voiced determination to move forward with a clear stance.
According to the official announcement, Kotzias tendered his resignation on Wednesday. It was accepted and Tsipras takes over also the foreign ministry portfolio.
The decision to assume the Foreign Ministry himself marks his decisiveness in doing whatever possible to guarantee the successful completion of the historic agreement on the name row which was reached in June this year after marathon UN-mediated negotiations, the Greek Premier said.
"The decision to accept Kotzias' resignation and my decision to act also as Foreign Minister from now on is a decision with many messages abroad as well as domestically, for my government, I would say. It marks my decision to not tolerate from now on any double talk from anyone, any personal strategies regarding national policy," Tsipras said speaking on camera to national broadcaster ERT.
"In addition, I will not accept from anyone, consciously or not, to disrupt the country's smooth course towards the exit from the crisis, the final exit from the memoranda which made Greek people suffer in the past eight years," he stressed.
Greece exited this August the harsh bailout programs which helped keep her afloat and within the euro zone since 2010, but still faces many challenges ahead.
Regarding the name deal, Tsipras sought to reassure the neighboring country, which is in the process of debating the agreement in its parliament these days, that Athens fully supports the agreement, adding that there will not be another chance.
Greece will not accept the neighboring state's accession to the EU or NATO without the new name agreed in June (Republic of North Macedonia), he said.
On her part, Greece will fulfill all its obligations, Tsipras underlined.
"There comes a time, as the poem says, where you have to decide whom you will join and whom it is you'll leave," Kotzias tweeted after his resignation.
"The Prime minister and a series of ministers made their choice at Tuesday's cabinet meeting, and then I made mine, but it's good to remember another line from a poem, 'As deeply as they tried to bury me, they have forgotten I'm a seed," he wrote, quoting Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
According to government sources, Kotzias stepped down due to disagreements within the government coalition in Athens relating to the implementation of the agreement.
According to the same sources during the latest cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Kotzias clashed with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos who is also the leader of the junior Right-wing party in the Left-led coalition.
Kammenos has repeatedly voiced in recent months his party's strong objection to the deal and has warned that he and the Independent Greeks MPs will vote against the agreement when it will reach the Greek parliament for ratification. No date has been set yet, but according to government sources it could be early 2019.
With 145 deputies in the 300-member strong plenary Tsipras' Radical Left SYRIZA party needs to win over the support of other opposition parties or independent legislators.
Asked to comment on local media scenarios regarding the prospect of a government collapse and snap elections over the name issue several times in recent weeks, many ministers have stressed that the government will exceed its term which expires in September 2019.
Despite the two governments' strong commitment to the agreement which puts an end to a long-standing row, there are still strong reactions in both countries by opposition parties and citizens.
The dispute started in 1991 when FYROM declared independence from Yugoslavia choosing the name Macedonia which is also the name of a Greek province.
Athens expressed concern from the beginning that the use of the same name by the neighboring state could lead to territorial claims.
