North Macedonia Parliament Ratifies Country's Accession to NATO
© REUTERS / Christian Hartmann
BELGRADE (Sputnik) - North Macedonia lawmakers on Tuesday ratified by overwhelming majority of votes the protocol on the country's accession to NATO.
"A total of 114 lawmakers [out of 120] voted in favor of ratification", President of the Assembly Talat Xhaferi announced after the vote.
The Balkan nation becomes the Alliance's 30th member. North Macedonia's path toward NATO membership opened after it signed a deal with Greece last June, which resolved their years-old row over Macedonia's official name.
The Balkan countries were set as a priority for EU expansion during the 2003 European Council summit in Greece, as it was planned that accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania would start by the end of 2019. However, the discussions have been reportedly delayed by the tensions between NATO leading states, Germany and France, as Paris has repeatedly expressed its caution over EU enlargement.
© AP PHOTO / BORIS GRDANOSKI
A street vendor fixes a North Macedonia flag next to an EU flag in a street in Skopje
In January, German Chancellor Angela Merkel aslo argued that she would be pushing for a start of the EU accession negotiations for Albania and North Macedonia at the next European Council in March.
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