The Greek Parliament has ratified a historic Macedonian renaming agreement (video) – world news

paves the way for Macedonia to the European Union and NATO / photo flickr.com/telemax

The Greek Parliament approved an agreement with Macedonia to rename this country North Macedonia

153 deputies – representatives of the ruling party, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, as well as several independent parliamentarians – voted for this treaty in Skopje Friday, January 25, 19659006. [143] The decision to rename the country to the Republic of Northern Macedonia approved the parliament of Skopje on January 11th. The corresponding amendments to the constitution were approved by the required two-thirds majority (81). out of 120).

In June 2018, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zayev signed the Spanish agreement on the change of name of Macedonia in the Republic of Macedonia of the North.

Read also The Secretary-General of NATO congratulated the historic decision to change the name of Macedonia .

A few months later, a referendum was held in Macedonia. The participants answered the following question: "Are you in favor of EU and NATO membership and an agreement between Macedonia and Greece?" It was recognized as failed since only 37% of the 1.8 million voters participated. Nevertheless, 91% of those who voted supported the agreement.

The controversy over the name of the state of Macedonia was born in 1991 after the declaration of independence of this former Yugoslav republic. The reason for the conflict is the presence of Greece in the region of Macedonia. Athens fears that if the name "Macedonia" is affixed to a neighboring country, Skopje may claim land claims against the Greek region. This is why the official name of Macedonia at the United Nations since 1993 is "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Athens blocks the introduction of Skopje in the European Union and in the European Union. 39; NATO.