Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras may have won the confidence vote, but the challenges for his government are far from over. Wednesday’s fierce debate is regarded in Greece as nothing more than a teaser of what is to be expected when the Hellenic Parliament convenes to vote for the ratification of the FYROM-Greece agreement that will see the former adopting the name ‘North Macedonia’.

Up until Wednesday, it was widely speculated that the debate will take place on Friday and Saturday, thus justifying the decision by Speaker Nikos Voutsis to call for a two-day debate on the confidence vote, instead of a three-day one. The reasoning behind this was to make sure that the debate – and possible ratification of the deal – would take place before Sunday’s scheduled protest rally against the Prespes agreement, which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of protesters in front of the Parliament, at Syntagma Square.

However, in more likelihood the issue will be brought to the parliament within next week, as the PM has expressed his eagerness to close this issue before the end of the month.

On Wednesday, FYROM’s Foreign Ministry sent a ‘note verbale’ to the Greek Foreign Ministry, informing that FYROM “has fulfilled the internal legal conditions required for the entry into force of the final agreement,” effectively giving the Greek government the green light to finalise the deal.

Getting support from the Parliament, though, might prove an even bigger headache for Mr Tsipras than the confidence vote. His leftist SYRIZA party has no more than 145 MPs, which means that he needs at least six more to put the deal into effect. So far, he has secured four votes, all from independent MPs: Tourism Minister Elena Koundoura (who was elected with the former junior coalition party, ANEL), Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Katerina Papakosta (formerly of Nea Dimokratia), Deputy House Speaker Kostas Zouraris (who was elected with ANEL, but is not a member of the party), and member for Iraklio Spiros Danellis (forrmerly of To Potami). Should Deputy Minister of Growth Vassilis Kokkalis (formerly of ANEL) and Member for the second district of Athens, Thanasis Papachristopoulos (who retains his ANEL seat) vote in favour of the agreement, as expected, then the deal will be ratified. Democratic Left leader Thanasis Theocharopoulos, has also expressed his will to support the accord, unless the party (which is now part of the the PASOK-led centre-left coalition, Kinima Allagis) imposes party discipline and aligns with KINAL’s stance. They are expected to have decided by 20 January.

What also remains to be seen is what the centrist party To Potami will do. The official party line was to support the agreement, whowever two of its MPs have said that they will not, and are urging leader Stavros Theodorakis to align with the Opposition party, Nea Dimokratia. Should Theodorakis, along with MPs Giorgos Mavrotas and Spiros Likoudis stay true to their pledge to support the deal, then Tsipras will have the support of 154-155 MPs in what he sees as his personal legacy.

As expected, the Prespes agreement took centre stage at the debate on the confidence vote, with former Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias presenting the arguments in favour of the agreement, explaining that the agreement is legally binding regarding irredentism and national symbols and also clearly defines borders, thus dismissing any fears that FYROM would ever wish to expand its territory over Greece (which is a far superior military power). He also warned that the alternative to an agreement would mean the increase of Turkish influence in the Balkans.

Defending his long-standing position on the issue, former Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said that leaving the coalition with SYRIZA was a matter of principle, and attacked the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party for hypocritical opposition to the deal, given that the party was supportive of a compromise, when it was in government.

As for the leader of ND, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he said that the deal is “harmful” for Greece and accused the government for deliberately “toying” with the national issues for political purposes. In his response, the PM challenged the Leader of the Opposition to a televised debate on the Prespes agreement, which might put off the parliamentary debate for at least a couple of days.