NATO agreed to the accession negotiations of Macedonia in the Alliance
Moscow. July 11. INTERFAX.RU — the leaders of the countries-members of NATO at the summit in Brussels agreed to start negotiations with Macedonia on its accession to the Alliance, said Wednesday the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We agreed to invite Skopje at the beginning of the accession negotiations”, — he said at a press conference.
Stoltenberg stressed that as soon as Macedonia will finally settle the question about the country’s name with Greece, Skopje will join the Alliance.
The Renaming Of Macedonia
The Macedonian Parliament on 19 June by a majority of votes supported the implementation of the agreements between Athens and Skopje about the renaming of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in Northern Macedonia. However, the President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov considered the agreement unconstitutional, and on June 26 refused to sign the document. July 5, Macedonian parliamentarians re-ratified the agreement with Greece about the new name of Macedonia, thereby denying the President the opportunity to block it.
In the autumn in Macedonia scheduled a referendum in which citizens will be able to vote in favour or against the agreement with Athens on renaming the country. In favor of this transaction should vote and Hellenic Parliament.
This agreement would end a longstanding dispute between Athens and Skopje. The Greek side did not accept the name Republic of Macedonia, since, in her opinion, it was too consonant with the name of the Greek region of Macedonia.
The resolution of this issue is fundamentally important to the future of Macedonia. It is expected that after its entry into force the Greek side will no longer block the accession process of Macedonia to such groups as the EU and NATO.