It is June and the heat is intense in Skopje, both on the streets and inside the city buildings. The same at the Department of Administrative Affairs in the building of the public broadcaster MRT, where passports are issued with the new name of the country: “North Macedonia”.

“What did I wait half an hour for?” asks a frustrated young woman on the phone.

“I’m supposed to be back in a week. But when exactly?”, monologues a middle-aged man descending the stairs.

Many of the North Macedonians found in the building today will have to wait longer to receive their travel documents. Still others leave with a big smile and their new passport in hand, ready for their summer vacation.

The Prespa Agreement

Six years ago, on June 17, 2018, Greece and the then Republic of Macedonia signed the Prespa Agreement, which among other things provided for the change of the latter’s name to “North Macedonia”.

According to the Agreement, North Macedonian citizens who would like to leave the country after February 12, 2024 would only be able to do so with a passport with the new name of the state.

But even though the terms of the Agreement came into force with the revision of North Macedonia’s Constitution in February 2019, citizens who applied for a passport two years later were still getting documents with the country’s old name.

Long wait, frustrated citizens

A few months ago, the queues of citizens waiting to receive a new passport were even longer – many waited for hours just to speak to an official, and the phone lines were “going down” from the many calls.

Under current legislation, the state is required to issue the requested documents within 15 working days, or within 48 hours if a citizen requests an expedited passport – which also costs €100. However, those who spoke to DW said they had been waiting for two months during the usual extradition process.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Angel from Skopje made an appointment to have his passport photo taken at the beginning of March. “They told me that I will receive my passport within one to two months. But the two months have already passed. I asked everywhere, no one could find my passport. Is it ready or not?” he wonders. While waiting for his passport Angel missed the opportunity to work in Germany and Spain. “The whole experience is not pleasant at all,” he tells DW.

Angel considers that the process of issuing the documents could have started much earlier and that the citizen could have been informed about the progress of his application. As of speaking to DW, Angel has thankfully managed to get his passport.

No planning is possible without a passport

“I was in a situation where I could neither do any planning, nor consider my options outside the country or book tickets,” photographer Armnora Memeti tells DW. “I wanted to go to Italy, but I couldn’t. Because it is impossible to book tickets without your new passport number.” But luck smiled on her and after some time she too received a notification to go and collect her passport. Others, of course, have not been so lucky and some are even thinking of suing the state.

North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry told DW that between July 5, 2021 and May 31, 2024, 1.6 million applications were made for passports, 1.3 million for identity cards and more than 680,000 for driver’s licenses. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 3,000 to 4,000 passports are issued every day.

Businesses are also affected

And it’s not just private individuals who are experiencing the effects of this…passport crisis. This summer will be very difficult for travel agencies as well.

As Pavlina Popovski from the Atlantis travel agency points out, the effects are already felt: “Due to passport problems, not all seats were filled on the first flights for the summer season.”

Usually many people book air tickets from December in order to take advantage of the lowest prices. However, several North Macedonians were forced to cancel their plans because they did not get their new passports in time. And now the prices have gone up significantly.

“If they keep waiting, they might get their passport a few weeks before they leave. But if they end up canceling their reservations just before the start of their vacation, then we will have to keep some money from them. And that’s not convenient for anyone, so they just cancel their tickets,” says Popovsky. “The problem is simply whether one will have a travel document, a passport or something else. An entire industry is affected. Three years ago it was the coronavirus, now it’s passports.”

New tensions with Greece?

Meanwhile, the recent May 8 election saw the election of the first female president – ​​Gordana Silianovska-Davkova, a retired professor of constitutional law – and a new government led by the right-wing VMRO-DPMNE party.

Relations between North Macedonia and Greece were again in the spotlight when new president Silianovska-Davkova refused to use the country’s new, constitutionally enshrined name upon taking office. And many wondered whether Greece might decide in response to withdraw its support for North Macedonia for the country’s EU membership.

Although the new government stated that the president will officially use the country’s constitutionally protected name, it also stated that “in her public appearances the president has the right to use the name “Macedonia”, as an exercise of her personal right to self-determination and self-determination, respecting fundamental human rights and freedoms and in accordance with European values ​​and principles”.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas