North Macedonia–NATO relations

North Macedonia is a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 1995, the country joined the Partnership for Peace. It then began taking part in various NATO missions, including the International Security Assistance Force and the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. At the 2008 Bucharest summit, Greece vetoed the country's invitation to join; however, NATO member states agreed that the country would receive an invitation upon resolution of the Macedonia naming dispute.^[1] Following an agreement in June 2018 to rename the country, representatives of NATO member states signed a protocol on the accession of North Macedonia to NATO on 6 February 2019.^[2] Over the next thirteen months, all of NATO's 29 member states ratified the protocol. The accession protocol entered into force on 19 March 2020, allowing North Macedonia to deposit its instrument of accession and thereby become NATO's 30th member state on 27 March 2020.

North Macedonia–NATO relations

NATO	North Macedonia

History

Macedonian troops have participated with NATO security missions including ISAF in Afghanistan and KFOR in Kosovo.^[3]

The then-Republic of Macedonia joined the Partnership for Peace in 1995 and commenced its Membership Action Plan in 1999 at the Washington Summit, at the same time as eight other countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia). Macedonia was part of the Vilnius Group and formed the Adriatic Charter with Croatia and Albania in 2003 to better coordinate NATO accession.^[4]

Participating in the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo, it received aid from NATO in dealing with refugees fleeing from Kosovo. In August 2001, NATO intervened in the 2001 insurgency, during which an Albanian group, the National Liberation Army, fought government forces. In Operation Essential Harvest, NATO troops joined with the Macedonian military to disarm these forces following a cease-fire agreement.^[5]

At the 2008 Bucharest summit, Greece vetoed the Republic of Macedonia's invitation to join over the Macedonia naming dispute, however, NATO nations agreed that the country would receive an invitation upon resolution of the disagreement.^[1] Greece felt that its neighbour's constitutional name implies territorial aspirations against its own region of Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia sued Greece in the International Court of Justice over their veto of Macedonia's NATO membership, citing their 1995 interim accord that allowed Macedonia to join international organizations under the name "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", which is how NATO, with the exception of Turkey, recognized their bid.^[6] Greece counterargued that it was a collective decision of NATO not to invite the Republic of Macedonia, and therefore the interim accord signed between the two countries was not violated. The ICJ ruled in December 2011 that Greece was wrong to have blocked its neighbor's bid, finding them in breach of the agreement. Greece also blocked the Republic of Macedonia's start of negotiations on accession to the European Union over the naming dispute.^[7]

Then–United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked the Republic of Macedonia and Greece to find an "acceptable solution" to the dispute, so that the Republic of Macedonia would be free to join NATO.^[8] In 2014, prior to the 65th anniversary of its founding, NATO announced that it would not be offering any new countries membership in the organisation that year. Some analysts, such as Jorge Benitez of the Atlantic Council think tank, argued that this reluctance was partly due to the new security climate after Russia's annexation of Crimea.^[9] There has been continued debate about how Russia will view the republic's accession.^[10]

In March 2016, Macedonian Defense Minister Zoran Jolevski stated his hope that his country's handling of the 2015 European migrant crisis might bring it closer to NATO membership.^[11]

On 12 June 2017, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev signaled he would consider alternative names for the country in order to strike a compromise with Greece, settle the naming dispute, and lift Greek objections to Macedonia joining the alliance. Zaev also floated the idea of Macedonia joining the alliance under the provisional name it used at the United Nations.^[12] The naming dispute was resolved with the Prespa Agreement in June 2018 under which the country adopted the name North Macedonia, which was supported by a referendum in September 2018. On 11 July 2018, NATO invited the republic to begin membership talks, saying the country could join the organisation once the naming agreement had been implemented.^[13] Formal accession talks began on 18 October 2018.^[14] On 6 February 2019, the permanent representatives to NATO of the member states signed a protocol on the accession of North Macedonia to NATO.^[2]

North Macedonia commemorates its accession to NATO at the US Department of State on 27 March 2020

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, speaking alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Skopje on 3 June 2019, said that he expected the ratification process to be finalised by the end of October.^[15] By that time North Macedonia was expected to join NATO in early 2020, with the alliance publicly reassuring the country its accession would go ahead.^[16] North Macedonia was given a seat at the 2019 London summit alongside other NATO members and was represented by a delegation headed by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.^[17] On 11 February 2020, the Macedonian Sobranie unanimously approved the North Atlantic Treaty, with 114 votes in favour, no abstentions and no opposition.^[18][19] Due to its political crisis, Spain was the last country to ratify the accession protocol, which it did on 19 March 2020.^[19][17] North Macedonia subsequently signed the instrument of accession and became a member state on 27 March 2020.^[20][21][22]

On 9 December 2021, a ceremony was held at Skopje Airport to mark the inclusion of North Macedonia in the NATO Air Policing system.^[23]

The country acceded to the NATO Ottawa Agreement on 2 June 2022.^[24]

Accession

North Macedonia NATO Accession Treaty

Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Republic of North Macedonia[25] Macedonian: Протокол кон Северноатлантскиот договор за пристапување на Република Северна Македонија
Other NATO members   North Macedonia
Type	Accession treaty
Signed	6 February 2019 (2019-02-06)
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Effective	27 March 2020
Condition	Entry into force of the accession treaty after ratification by all current NATO members. Membership of North Macedonia starts after deposit of its instrument of accession after the treaty has entered into force.
Ratifiers	29 / 29
Depositary	United States
Languages	English and French

Negotiation progress

Event	Date
Partnership for Peace	15 November 1995[26]
Membership Action Plan	19 April 1999[27]
Invitation to join	11 July 2018[28]
Accession protocol	6 February 2019[2]
Domestic ratification	11 February 2020[29]
Treaty in force	19 March 2020[30]
Member of NATO	27 March 2020[31][22]

Ratification process

Ratification status for North Macedonia's membership in NATO

Signatory	Date	Institution			AB	Deposited[25]	Ref.
Albania	14 February 2019	Parliament	140	0	0	1 April 2019	[32]
	20 February 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[33]
Belgium	25 April 2019	Chamber of Representatives	131	2	2	6 June 2019	[34]
	17 May 2019	Royal assent	Granted				[35]
Bulgaria	20 February 2019	National Assembly	140	0	0	18 March 2019	[36]
	23 February 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[37]
Canada	19 June 2019	House of Commons	Passed[a]			19 June 2019	[38][39]
Croatia	1 March 2019	Parliament	116	2	0	22 May 2019	[40]
	6 March 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[41]
Czech Republic	12 June 2019	Senate	52	0	13	25 October 2019	[42]
	12 September 2019	Chamber of Deputies	124	8	16		[43]
	8 October 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[44]
Denmark	26 March 2019	Folketing	97	0	9	12 April 2019	[45]
Estonia	12 June 2019	Riigikogu	76	0	17	18 July 2019	[46]
	17 June 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[47]
France	17 October 2019	Senate	Passed			9 December 2019	[48]
	21 November 2019	National Assembly	Passed				[49]
	28 November 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[50]
Germany	6 June 2019	Bundestag	545	160	4	21 August 2019	[51]
	28 June 2019	Bundesrat	Passed				[52]
	4 July 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[53]
Greece	8 February 2019	Parliament	153	140	1	21 February 2019	[54]
	15 February 2019	Presidential promulgation	Granted				[55]
Hungary	25 June 2019	National Assembly	153	0	0	24 July 2019	[56]
	27 June 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[57]
Iceland	24 October 2019	Althing	32	0	11	14 November 2019	[58]
Italy	25 June 2019	Chamber of Deputies	442	0	1	2 December 2019	[59]
	16 October 2019	Senate	237	0	2		[60]
	24 October 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[61]
Latvia	16 May 2019	Saeima	81	0	0	4 June 2019	[62]
	22 May 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[63]
Lithuania	14 March 2019	Seimas	92	0	0	30 May 2019	[64]
	20 March 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[65]
Luxembourg	2 July 2019	Chamber of Deputies	58	2	0	25 July 2019	[66]
	12 July 2019	Grand Ducal promulgation	Granted				[67]
Montenegro	1 March 2019	Parliament	44	0	0	18 April 2019	[68]
	4 March 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[69]
Netherlands	4 July 2019	House of Representatives	129	21	0	19 November 2019	[70]
	12 November 2019	Senate	59	16	0		[71]
	13 November 2019	Royal promulgation	Granted				[72]
Norway	5 June 2019	Storting	96	1	0	19 July 2019	[73]
	14 June 2019	Royal assent	Granted				[74]
Poland	4 April 2019	Sejm	388	1	2	1 July 2019	[75]
	11 April 2019	Senate	59	0	0		[76][77]
	25 April 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[78]
Portugal	15 May 2019	National Assembly	193	36	1	8 October 2019	[79]
	7 August 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[80]
Romania	27 February 2019	Chamber of Deputies	273	0	0	18 July 2019	[81]
	13 March 2019	Senate	96	0	0		[82]
	18 March 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[83]
Slovakia	4 April 2019	National Council	111	13	1	22 May 2019	[84]
	24 April 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[85]
Slovenia	12 February 2019	National Assembly	72	12	0	22 March 2019	[86]
	20 February 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[87]
Spain	27 February 2020	Congress of Deputies	279	1	51	19 March 2020	[88]
	17 March 2020	Senate	243	0	21		[89]
	17 March 2020	Royal assent	Granted				[90][91]
Turkey	11 July 2019	National Assembly	255	7	1	9 December 2019	[92]
	24 July 2019	Presidential assent (legislative)	Granted				[93]
	4 October 2019	Presidential assent (executive)	Granted				[94]
United Kingdom	25 September 2019	Parliament	Passed[b]			24 October 2019	[96]
	16 October 2019	Government	Granted				[97]
United States	22 October 2019	Senate	91	2	0	29 November 2019	[98][99]
	26 November 2019	Presidential assent	Granted				[100]

Note

1. The treaty was laid before the House of Commons on 18 March 2019, and the last day a negative resolution could be passed was 19 June 2019.
2. In the United Kingdom, there is no requirement for a formal law approving of treaties before their ratification, but the Ponsonby Rule is that they are laid before Parliament with an explanatory memorandum.^[95] The treaty was laid before parliament on 27 June 2019, and the last day a negative resolution could be passed was 25 September 2019.

Public opinion

Anti-NATO graffiti in Ohrid in July 2018, translating to "NATO are killers. I am the salvation of Macedonia. #Boycott."

During the Kosovo War of 1999, the Macedonian government maintained a pro-NATO position.^[101] A majority of the population of the Republic of Macedonia criticised the government stance and opposed NATO intervention in Kosovo due to fears over irredentism from ethnic Albanians within the country, the unstable economy, disruption of trade brought about by war, and Slavic solidarity with Serbs.^[102] Prime Minister Ljubčo Georgievski stated during the war that anti-NATO sentiment was the "second biggest threat" to the country after the arrival of Albanian refugees from Kosovo.^[103] The country's Albanian population supported NATO and its intervention to assist the Albanians of Kosovo.^[101]

In 2008, a poll following the NATO summit showed that 82.5% of ethnic Macedonian citizens opposed changing their country's constitutional name in order to join NATO.^[104] NATO membership in general in 2008 was supported by 85.2% of the population.^[105] Elections were called following the 2008 summit, resulting in further support for the center-right pro-NATO party, VMRO-DPMNE. The elections were marred by violence that attracted criticism from NATO members.^[106]

In a statewide 2010 survey, 80.02% of respondents said they would vote for the Republic of Macedonia to become part of NATO if a referendum on accession were to take place.^[107] In another survey, some 65% of ethnic Macedonians expressed that they opposed a name change of the state as being the price for NATO membership.^[107]

In a 2016 poll, some 68% of ethnic Macedonians supported joining NATO, possibly under the FYROM name.^[108] Albanians of North Macedonia harbour strongly pro-NATO sentiments.^[109]

See also

• Accession of North Macedonia to the European Union
• Enlargement of NATO
• Foreign relations of North Macedonia
• Macedonia naming dispute