We are being played by the Skopjeans, since they cannot even implement the flawed and unacceptable Prespa agreement, as far as identity cards, driving licences and passports are concerned.
According to media reports, the Skopje authorities claim that according to the 2018 Prespa agreement with Greece, all personal documents will now have to be changed.
However, journalistic research has shown that the whole procedure is not so strict and that it will still be possible to use the old documents until they expire.
What exactly is happening in the neighbouring state
The interest in the new ID cards started a few months ago, when Skopje Minister Oliver Spasovski announced that after February 12, 2024, the old ID cards, driving licenses and passports will no longer be valid due to the Prespa Agreement.
The obligation to change personal documents with the new constitutional name arose from the Prespa Agreement, signed in June 2018, which entered into force in February 2019.
According to Article 1, paragraph 10 of the agreement, personal documents must be changed within five years from the entry into force of the agreement until February 2024.
Unfortunately, the FYROM authorities failed to harmonise some of the laws related to the Prespa Agreement, such as the identity card procedure, while the laws on passports and driving licences were successfully harmonised.
What is really happening with ID cards-plates-passports
"Personal documents intended for internal use, such as ID cards, will remain in force," Skopje Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said on 12 January, adding that the option of extending the deadline for replacing passports would be considered.
Opposition party VMRO-DPMNE announced it would file an initiative with the Constitutional Court on laws related to changing personal documents.
Citizens began making appointments to have their photos taken and start the process of obtaining new documents, but some of them were given dates in September or October 2024.
The Skopje Ministry of Interior tried to react and opened the possibility to apply for new documents without an appointment, but this created huge queues, especially in the capital Skopje.
According to Sloboden Pechat, a newspaper in Skopje, banks across the country will accept old ID cards until they expire, according to the official position of the Union of Banks of the FYROM.
The Skopje State Election Commission told the newspaper that, according to the current provisions of the Electoral Code, all adult citizens with valid identity documents are included in the electoral list ahead of the upcoming elections on 24 April and 8 May.
Minister Spasovski said that no one will be penalized or fined if they do not have a personal document with the new name after February 12, 2024.
On 9 January, President Stevo Pedarovski presented a public proposal to extend the deadline for new documents until September-October and asked for Greece's consent as well.
Denko Maleski, a professor of international law and former foreign minister, said that "extending the deadline for personal documents is the least that the Skopje state can do, given that 'the change of documents is not going as fast as we had hoped. In these 32 years, our country has had to take many unpopular actions to survive and progress on the international stage. In a sense, the state owes the people and must do literally everything to ease their situation as a result of the decisions it has had to make.
Politicians must find a way to make it easier for citizens to access documents," he concluded.
In addition to personal documents, citizens will have to put a sticker with the new NMK mark instead of the MK mark on their license plates no later than February 12, 2024.
Skopjeans pay about 6 euros for a new identity card, about 10 euros for a driving licence and about 40 euros for a new passport.
Eight-pointed star in the Museum of Vergina instead of the right star which is Hexagonal
A question to the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni regarding the octagonal star used as an emblem at the Polycentric Museum of Aigai in Veria, but also on the website of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Imathia, was submitted by the President of "Hellenic Solution" Kyriakos Velopoulos and the Member of Parliament of Imathia Vassilis Kotidis.
In the question they state the following:
Madam Minister,
The Prime Minister, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on 5-1-2024 inaugurated the restored Palace of the ancient Aegis, the "Parthenon of Macedonia" in a glorious ceremony. In his speech, he stressed that both the Palace and the exhibits of the Multicentre Museum prove the timeless Greekness of the Macedonians in spite of our unspiritual neighbours who are trying to misappropriate their long history.
However, for years now, we have been noticing on the facade of the main building of the Polycentric Museum the existence of at least one controversial and curious symbol, an eight-pointed star of Vergina. The same eight-pointed star, curiously enough, is the symbol of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Imathia, as well as the website of the Polycentric Museum of Aigai.
Historically, the sixteen-pointed star or sun of Vergina is a symbol of the Argadian Kings of Macedonia, as it is reflected in the golden urn of Philip II, King of the Macedonians. The four rays symbolize the elements of nature (Earth - Sea - Fire - Air) and the remaining twelve the twelve Olympian Gods. The existing eight-pointed star symbolizes nothing and is a counterfeit of the most powerful religious symbol of the Macedonians.
Given all of the above,
Is the Minister:
Why was the original Macedonian hexagonal symbol not used on the façade of the main building of the Polycentric Museum of Aigai?
Why is the eight-pointed star the symbol of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Imathia and the website of the Polycentric Museum of Aigai?
1. What does the eight-pointed star symbolize, as, no matter how hard we tried, we could not find an explanation?
What is the reason for the falsification of a 2,500-year-old historical religious symbol? Is there something they haven't said? I wonder if there is any commitment to the self-proclaimed "Macedonians" of our neighboring state?
The questioning Members of Parliament
VELOPULOS CYRIAKOS
KOTIDIS KING KING
We await a reply from the Ministry of Culture on this matter.
