At the beginning of February 2019, the process of Macedonia's accession to NATO officially started. At a meeting in Brussels, all 29 member states of the North Atlantic Alliance signed a corresponding protocol. To complete the procedure for Macedonia's accession to the NATO bloc, this document will have to be ratified in each state separately. According to experts, it will take about a year to settle all the formalities.
Attempted accession and veto of Greece
After the collapse of Yugoslavia, the new states that emerged on the Balkan Peninsula took a foreign policy course focused on joining NATO and the European Union (EU). Romania and Bulgaria were among the first to join the military-political bloc in 2004. Then in 2009 it was the turn of Croatia and Albania. The accession of Montenegro happened much later - in 2017. However, the Macedonian authorities did not sit idly by all these years either. Their first attempt to become part of NATO took place ten years ago. Then Greece vetoed Macedonia's invitation to the North Atlantic Alliance.
The reason was a long-standing dispute between the two countries regarding the historical origin of the name "Macedonia". For many years Greece demanded the renaming of a neighboring country due to the fact that there is a similar region on its territory. According to the Greek authorities, they feared the encroachments of a neighboring state on their lands, so they blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO and the EU.
Conflict resolution
For a long time, the problem could not be solved. Macedonia sued Greece at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and the court even took its side. True, then the military bloc temporarily suspended the process of accepting new members. In the meantime, the UN and NATO leadership have joined in resolving the conflict. They initiated a meeting of representatives of the two countries. At the end of 2017, negotiations began, which both sides called successful and positive.
Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev took a course on changing the name of the country. In June 2018, the foreign ministers of the two states signed a corresponding agreement. However, this procedure was opposed by the President of Macedonia Gheorghe Ivanov, as stated in his address to the people. The government decided to approve the international agreement by means of a referendum. At the end of September 2018, a vote was held, which was defiantly boycotted by opponents of the renaming. The turnout was only 37%, with the required threshold of 51%.
The election commission of Macedonia declared the referendum invalid, but this did not stop the authorities from adopting amendments to the Constitution. In this illegitimate way, the state acquired a new name - North Macedonia. By the way, not everyone in Greece was happy with the decision. Mass protests swept across the country, where people expressed fears that such an indistinct renaming still left the threat of territorial claims.
Why Macedonia joined NATO
For the inhabitants of our country, the question remains topical why Macedonia is so eager to join NATO that, in order to achieve the cherished goal, the government even makes unpopular decisions, which are opposed by a significant part of the population. By the way, this activity on the part of the North Atlantic Alliance is explained by the desire to strengthen its positions in the Balkan region, which was traditionally considered the sphere of influence of Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that the NATO leadership actually forced Greece and Macedonia to resolve a long-standing dispute. He sees these actions as attempts to further destabilize the situation in the region. Although our country has never had much influence in Macedonia, the Russian authorities have always advocated that the Balkan countries themselves determine the path of further development. However, the external forces that took part in the collapse of Yugoslavia still do not abandon their attempts to manipulate, forgetting about broken promises and the lack of assistance in resolving interethnic problems.
At the official ceremony of joining NATO, the Macedonian Foreign Minister said that he sees in this step for his country a desire for stability and security. Experts believe that the ultimate and more desirable goal for the Macedonian government is to join the EU. If we talk about security, then an important aspect is the guarantee of maintaining peace with neighboring members of the military alliance. Against the background of interethnic conflicts that regularly shake the Balkans, Macedonia seeks to protect itself from any armed confrontation.
If the procedure for ratifying accession to NATO goes according to plan, then by the end of the year Macedonia will become the 30th member of the North Atlantic Alliance. The landmark event is expected to take place in December 2019 at a summit in London, timed to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the military bloc. In addition, the admission of a new member to NATO serves as an unspoken signal for Georgia and Ukraine, which have long dreamed of annoying Russia in this way.
