SKOPJE (Macedonia), October 22 (SeeNews) – Macedonia's parliament has voted to amend the constitution in order to put into force a deal with neighbouring Greece to change the ex-Yugoslav country's name, paving the way for its accession to NATO and the EU, prime minister Zoran Zaev said.
The vote was a confirmation of the September 30 referendum and a historic day for Macedonia, Zoran Zaev said in a press release, shortly after the parliament endorsed the agreement which needed two-thirds majority to pass.
Out of 120 members of parliament, 80 voted in favour of the agreement with Greece to rename the country to North Macedonia, despite efforts of opposition parties to boycott the vote late on Friday.
The government will start work on the constitutional changes needed to enshrine the name deal into the constitution, Zaev said, adding that the focus will also be on the implementation of the necessary reforms aimed at achieving European standards.
The parliament vote comes after last month's consultative referendum on the name deal with Greece fell short of the 50% turnout needed for the vote to be valid. The vote was largely boycotted by Macedonia's opposition parties and the country's president but those who voted overwhelmingly supported the agreement.
The endorsement of the name deal was welcomed by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “I welcome the vote by parliament in Skopje on the proposed constitutional changes. It's up to the government and political leaders to complete national procedures on the name agreement and seize this historic opportunity to bring the country into NATO,” Stoltenberg said in a Twitter post.
The European Commission said the Macedonian parliament took a very important step towards the implementation of the name deal with Greece through the vote launching the procedure of constitutional changes.
"We now expect the national procedures for the implementation of the agreement to continue without any delays, towards the adoption of the constitutional changes," EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a joint statement late on Friday.
The agreement was signed on June 17 by the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece to put an end to a dispute that has blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO and the EU.
Macedonia began two days of formal accession talks at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, marking an important step on its road towards NATO membership.
Athens has blocked Macedonia’s attempts to join NATO and the EU for 27 years over the country's name. According to Greece, the current name Republic of Macedonia implies territorial claims on the Greek northernmost province of the same name.