Decades-old dispute over Macedonia’s name finally comes to an end

One more bilateral dispute is resolved at Europe’s doorstep as the disagreement over Macedonia’s name comes to an end. After surviving a confidence vote in parliament and dodging countless external political attacks against the name deal by Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, Greece has finally ratified the Prespa Agreement. This leads to Greece’s neighbor in the north changing its name to North Macedonia, which paved the way for NATO membership.

The new government in Skopje agreed to change Macedonia’s name last year, adding the qualifier “North” to the name of the country, as a response to complaints coming from its neighbor in the south, Greece. In turn, the latter pledged to remove obstacles to the former’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). When the two leaders initially agreed to resolve the long-standing name dispute, it was clear that a bumpy road was still ahead. Now that the parliament in Skopje successfully passed all constitutional amendments and the Greek parliament finally ratified the Prespa Agreement, it is high time for North Macedonia to join the Atlantic Alliance.

The political dispute between the two countries began when Greece’s neighbor was born out of the breakup of Yugoslavia, declaring independence as the Republic of Macedonia in 1991. Athens objected to the name Macedonia, arguing that the name should refer only to Greece’s northern Macedonia region. In 1993, Skopje and Athens reached a temporary compromise to enable the former to join the United Nations under the provisional name “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.” Nevertheless, the standstill persisted, blocking the country’s goal of joining NATO and later halting the start of accession talks with the EU. In June last year, the prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, and his Macedonian counterpart, Zoran Zaev, agreed that Macedonia would add the qualifier “North” to its name, becoming North Macedonia.

Voters in September last year overwhelmingly backed the agreement to add the qualifier “North” to the name of the country and to settle a 27-year-old row with Greece, with more than 90 percent registering their approval. However, only 37 percent of citizens turned out to vote. Since the referendum was of a consultative nature, or non-binding, the parliament in Skopje had the final say, and it successfully implemented the deal.

After the parliament in Skopje had successfully implemented the name deal, it became the parliament in Athens’ turn to ratify it. The ruling coalition in Greece held a simple majority in parliament, which was also needed for the deal to pass, but its nationalist coalition partner strongly opposed the agreement with Skopje, forcing the Greek prime minister Tsipras to seek support for ratification from outside the ruling coalition that he was successfully able to secure. Not securing the necessary votes to ratify the agreement would have resulted in a fiasco for Tsipras internationally, especially as it took more than two decades to come with an agreement in the first place.

In such a scenario, Athens would have been forced to call snap elections, and the outcome would have destabilized the region, opening the door to Russia-backed nationalist forces and halting any further NATO expansion. Disinformation campaigns intended to boost nationalists would be in line with the Kremlin’s policy of sowing chaos in the region and push back against further Euro-Atlantic expansion. Thus, successful ratification of the deal in parliament was essential to Tsipras. Finding a resolution to this historic political dispute as one of his accomplishments would help Tsipras boost his standing in Greece before the general elections this spring and might ensure him a bright future in the European political arena, particularly after the failed efforts two years ago to reunify Cyprus.

Now that Athens ratified the deal in parliament, the positive outcome will allow North Macedonia to become a new member of the Atlantic Alliance, after NATO activates the membership ratification process with its member countries. If the United States unconditionally backs North Macedonia’s NATO accession and that the Congress does not face another political hurdle as happened with Montenegro three years ago, North Macedonia will become NATO’s 30th member. Such a move is critical to address the security vacuum at Europe’s doorstep and a process of former foes becoming allies. For NATO, it is about getting business dating back to the 1990s finished. As a result, it will create a new momentum in the region. NATO membership will also unify the country to work towards a common future for all citizens of North Macedonia, without distinction. This is one of the crucial steps to completing Europe at its doorstep and advancing a vision of the Old Continent that is whole, free and at peace.