Kammenos demand for supermajority in name deal to be addressed ‘when the time comes’
A demand by Greece’s junior coalition partner that the name deal with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) be ratified by a supermajority in Greece’s parliament is not dictated by the country’s constitution and will be addressed when the “time comes,” the spokesman for the leftist-led government said on Wednesday.
Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said the government will discuss a demand for the deal with Skopje to be scrapped unless it can get backing from 180 lawmakers made by Panos Kammenos, Greece’s defense minister and head of the tiny nationalist Independent Greeks party – on which the government’s slim majority of 152 MPs in the 300-seat House relies.
“The Greek Constitution stipulates that the need for a vote of 180 lawmakers in support of any international agreement exists only when government powers or powers conferred by the Constitution are ceded to state agencies in international organizations. Here we do not have such a case, so there is no such constitutional requirement,” Tzanakopoulos said.
“Beyond that, Mr Kammenos’s proposal, which is a political proposal, will be the subject of discussion and consultation within the government when the time comes to make the necessary political decisions,” he added.
