SKOPJE (Macedonia), January 28 (SeeNews) – The preparation of the NATO accession protocol for Macedonia is underway, the country’s foreign ministry said on Monday, citing a letter sent by the secretary general of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, to foreign minister Nikola Dimitrov.
The protocol will be signed by the member states’ permanent representatives to NATO, the ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The announcement came after the parliament of neighbouring Greece on Friday ratified the agreement with Skopje to rename the former Yugoslav republic to North Macedonia, thus unblocking the path for the country to join NATO and the EU. Earlier this month, Macedonia's parliament endorsed four amendments to the constitution on renaming the country to North Macedonia, delivering on Skopje's commitments under the agreement.
“Once the accession protocol is formally signed, the next stage of the accession process will begin, to be followed by the ratification of the protocol in the national parliaments of the NATO member states,” the foreign ministry said.
On October 18, NATO launched formal accession talks with Macedonia.
Athens has blocked Macedonia’s attempts to join NATO and the EU for 27 years over the country's name. According to Greece, the current name Republic of Macedonia implies territorial claims on the Greek northernmost province of the same name.
Macedonia and Greece signed the agreement on the name change in June.