June 20 (SeeNews) - Macedonia's parliament said on Wednesday it ratified the agreement with Greece to resolve the 27-year old dispute between the two neighouring countries by changing the name of the former Yugoslav republic to North Macedonia.
The agreement was ratified by 69 votes in the 120-seat parliament, data from the website of the parliament shows.
In order for the agreement to enter into force, it must also be ratified by the Greek parliament. In addition, Macedonia will also hold a referendum on the deal in the autumn of 2018, Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev said last week.
The deal was signed on Sunday by the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias. The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Zaev, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and senior representatives of the European Commission.
"Today we are ending the dispute. We are putting an end to the many years of differences which have hindered friendly relations between neighbours," Zoran Zaev said during the ceremony.
"Very few believed we would succeed," Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras added, standing alongside Zaev.
The solution to the name dispute opens the door for the EU summit on June 28-29 to decide to launch accession talks with the Republic of North Macedonia, and for the NATO summit on July 11-12 to extend a membership invitation to Skopje.