Kontonis blames public outrage on fascists and opposition

The minister was heckled and jeered by people on the street, when they understood that he was in town and, secifically, at the prosecutor's office.

In fact, he added that "they had come there to express, in the raucous manner that they know, their opposition. They were just a few, they will remain few, and will diminish, because the people know what Golden Dawn is and what it seeks. "

In relation to the same incident, Mr. Kontounis noted that he was informed that another group, "again 10-15 people, were members of New Democracy", which he attributed to the "great tumult" as he said, "that the main opposition party finds itself in."

As for the Athens-Skopje agreement, he said: "It was an absolutely positive agreement for the country. Is safeguards national rights and closes wounds that were there for years, which could trigger serious problems in the future. "

"The northern neighbor now agrees that it has nothing to do with the history of ancient Greece and especially of the Macedonian dynasty", while it refers to two issues, ethnicity and language, for which, as he stressed, "there is huge misinformation" .

For the issue of ethnicity, which, as the Minister noted, "the opposition in many tones accused the government of having handed it over to the neighboring country", he explained that "the agreement does not mention it even once", on the contrary, "citizenship is referenced, to which the name of the citizen of Northern Macedonia, next to the Macedonian citizenship, was added to the passports of our northern neighbors, so we had an improvement from the current situation. " As far as the language issue is concerned, he said:

"On the subject of language which had been resolved, either because it could not be otherwise - and I can understand that - or because there were mistakes since 1977 within the framework of the UN, the agreement states that the language is Slavic. "

Mr Kontonis noted that everyone now realizes that the agreement "closes a wound and looks at the future with optimism" and noted that "especially for those who said that "we stay within Europe" it is a particular problem that they do not listen and do not perceive all the arguments and praises that the Greek government has received both from abroad and from within."

As for the new courthouse to be built in Giannitsa, he said that "it causes great disruption to the local New Democracy chapter" and added: "I understand these people, have their problems, the government will multiply them because they will take all those measures in favor of the people of the prefecture and the two cities of Edessa and Giannitsa, and they should know know that the vicious circle and the downward slide of nationalism never helped anyone."

Finally, Mr. Kontonis described as irresponsible the attitude of the main opposition to the name issue, as he said, "when they were in the negotiating position they asked for much less than what the government did."