Abstract
The difference between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the name of the small country dominated the bilateral relations between the two countries since 1991, blocking FYROM’s euro Atlantic perspectives and damaging regional understanding and cooperation. Since the beginning of 2018, the government of SYRIZA in Greece renewed its efforts to find a solution and tackle and agreement with the other side. As a result, in June the Prespes Agreement was signed between the two governments, amidst important reactions from the opposition in the two countries. Will the two sides be able to fulfill all the requirements of a complex and difficult agreement and let the country move towards NATO and the EU? Can the two societies live with this agreement? How will the next day be? All these points and many others will be analyzed during the presentation.

Marilena Koppa, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the Department of European, International and Area Studies of Panteion University and author of several articles on  minority issues, democratization, nationalism and European politics, with a preference for comparative approaches. She is an Athens Law school graduate. She gained her Ph.D on Comparative Politics at Paris–X Nanterre University (1991). For years she worked as a special adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues pertaining to European integration and enlargement. She has been a member of the European Parliament from 2007 to 2014. She was the Coordinator of the S&D Group at the Subcommittee on Security and Defense and also Vice-chairperson of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. She has been a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a substitute member of the Committee on International Trade and the Subcommittee on Human Rights. Among others, she was the rapporteur of the European Parliament “On the implementation of the CSDP based on the Annual Report from the Council to the EU on the Common Foreign and Security Policy in 2013 as well as the EP Rapporteur on ‘Enlargement: policies, criteria and the EU’s strategic interests” in 2012. She has published three books on South-eastern Europe: “A Fragile Democracy: The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia between the past and the future” (Papazisis, Athens, 1994), «The minorities in the post-communist Balkans” (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997), «The creation of states in the Balkans» (Nea Synora-Livanis, Athens, 1997). Her last book was on the Common Security and Defense Policy, “CSDP: the history, the institutions, the strategies” (Patakis, Athens, 2017).

Light lunch provided.