Greek FM resigns in internal dispute over Macedonia deal

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has resigned in an internal dispute over a deal with neighboring Macedonia, which he helped negotiate but which has faced opposition from a section of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s coalition government.

The 67-year-old career diplomat and university professor abruptly offered his resignation to Tsipras on Wednesday, a day after he clashed in a cabinet meeting with Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who heads the small, right-wing party of the Independent Greeks.

On Monday, the defense minister had threatened to pull out his party from the coalition if the deal with Macedonia came to parliament for ratification.

It was not yet clear why exactly Kotzias — one of Tsipras’s most experienced ministers — decided to step down, but he may have resigned to prevent the Independent Greeks from withdrawing from the coalition government.