Garrett: Deal paves Macedonia’s way into NATO, EU

British Ambassador to Macedonia Charles Garrett on Wednesday welcomed the agreement reached by the premiers Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras on the Macedonia-Greece name dispute saying it would pave Macedonia’s way for integration into the EU and NATO.

According to him, it is beneficial not only for Macedonia, but also for the region.

Ambassador Garrett, who signed today a cooperation memorandum with the Macedonian government, said he hoped Macedonia would get a date to open accession talks at the meeting of the Council of the EU, followed by an invitation to join NATO.

He referred to the statement of UK’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who said that the agreement ‘took leadership and political courage.’ “I urge all political leaders in both countries to recognise the benefits that resolving this long-standing issue will bring,” he stressed.

Ambassador Garrett said it was important to point out all the messages of congratulations sent from London, Washington, Berlin, the top EU and NATO officials, etc.

According to him, these messages show the recent development of events has been overwhelmingly welcomed.