Controversial remarks made by recently installed president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani have hit the media spotlight. According to Greek newspaper Kathimerini, during an interview while visiting Skopje last year, Mr. Tajani stated:
"Macedonia [sic] is a beautiful country. Everyone in Italy knows Macedonia [sic]. Why? Because Alexander the Great and Philip the Macedonian are your very well-known ancestors. There's no Europe without Alexander, as he was the first king who stopped an invasion from Iran and those countries. That's why we call him great, because he strengthened Europe's borders."
The revelation of the comments was naturally followed by vigorous protests from the Greek foreign ministry and the country's main political parties, as well as from one of the most prominent Greek MPs in Brussels, Dimitris Papadimoulis (Syriza party), who is one of the European Parliament's vice-presidents.
The strong denunciation of the comments from Greece – which is a member of the EU unlike FYROM – led to president Tajani posting in Greek on Twitter yesterday that "I know history very well. Alexander the Great was Greek and had ideas that contributed to the birth of Europe".
Preceding Mr. Tajani's tweet was a statement issued by the European Parliament confirming its firm stance on FYROM and that the only name by which it recognizes the country is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
For the record, Antonio Tajani is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's right-wing Forza Italia party as well as the European People's Party. He was installed president of the European Parliament just over a week ago on January 17.
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