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All ready for signing the Macedonia Agreement at Prespa Lake? Almost…

Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are preparing for the ceremony to sign the Macedonia agreement amid fierce opposition in both countries. Originally the agreement was schedule dot be signed Saturday, but the ceremony has been postponed for Sunday, due to a no-confidence vote in Greek Parliament later today.

The signing ceremony will take place on the two sides of Lake Prespa that is divided between Greece, FYROM and Albania.

The Agreement will be signed by Greek Foreign Minister, Nikos Kotzias, his FYROM counterpart, Nikola Dimitrov, and the UN Special Envoy, Mathew Nimetz in the presence of Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaef.

Invited are also High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, as well as Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who will most likely do not attend the ceremony.

After signing the historical document in the village Psarades, the delegations will cross the lake with boats and move to the north part of the lake, where they will have lunch on FYROM territory.

Tsipras’ travel to FYROM will symbolize the new era in the relations of the two countries.

While the officials will celebrate the historical day, opponents of the agreement will chant slogans against it even though from a distance.

Several Macedonian organizations are preparing for what they expect to be a big protest rally on the Greek side. Protesters are supposed to travel by cars to ski resort in Pisoderi and from there with buses to Psarades at ticket of just 10 euros.

“The Struggling Committee for the Greekness of Macedonia” calls on people to join the protest at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

The signing ceremony is supposed to start early on the day, however, nothing is official by Saturday noon.

According to some media, the government is allegedly considering to prohibit protests in the area of Psarades.

Back in the Greek capital, some organizations called for a non-stop Macedonia protest rally from Friday morning to Saturday night. Athens turned their backs to the rally on Friday possibly because far-right MPs from Golden Dawn demonstrative joined the rally after the unprecedented incident in Parliament where one of them called on the army to stage with a military coup.

Mainstream media “blamed” the high temperatures ( of around 30-32C) on Friday and the rain (rain?) on Saturday morning for the absent protesters.

Nevertheless, there is one protest rally scheduled at 4:00 pm  and another at 7:00 pm Saturday, with the latter to be supported by conservative main opposition party New Democracy.

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