There were smiles all round at NATO's new headquarters in Brussels,Belgium today,18 October 2018,as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia began Accession Talks with NATO,the first formal step in the process of applying for Alliance membership.The talks will run for two days.*
FYROM uses the name Macedonia,which is also the name of a province in Northern Greece.FYROM not only claims the name,but also the same heritage as the Greeks in that province,tracing it back to the Greek king Alexander the Great and his Macedonian Empire.This posture angers many Greeks,who see it as a threat to Greek sovereignty.
Nonetheless,the Greek SYRIZA party now in power,led by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras,considers the dispute a hindrance to the development of both FYROM and Greece,as well as a danger to European stability.Thus the Greek government entered into successful negotiations with FYROM and they reached agreement on a new name in June 2018:North Macedonia.*
The Brussels talks are headed by FYROM's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Radmila Sekerinska-Jankouska and NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy Alejandro Alvargonzalez.They include detailed discussion of the political,legal and military requirements for NATO membership.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained:
Once all the constitutional changes on the new name are completed,we can sign the Accession Protocol.
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