Macedonia apologises to Austria for wrong flag

NEWS 07.09.201816:53
Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski

The Macedonian government was forced to apologise to Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz on Friday after the wrong flag was raised in front of the government headquarters in Skoplje.

Austrian reporters noticed that the Latvian flag had been raised instead of Austria’s.  

“The government of the Republic of Macedonia apologises to the Republic of Austria for the unintentional protocol error during the visit by Chancellor Sebastian Kurtz to Macedonia,” a government statement said, adding that the flags of the two countries were of similar dimensions and colour.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev met Kurtz in front of a guard of honour, with the national anthems played before starting talks.

An Austrian flag was placed inside the government building.