Macedonia at the table with the most powerful countries

Macedonia finally accomplished what it had been waiting for these past three decades. “Meeting with history” was the perfect announcement by the Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov for yesterday’s ceremony in Brussels, where at the NATO headquarters the ambassadors of 29 member states of the Alliance signed the protocol for Macedonia’s accession to the military union.

The road was not easy

The estimates are undivided that February 6, 2019 will be mentioned as one of the most significant dates in recent Macedonian history, because on this day we became a de facto member of NATO. We sit at the table with the most powerful countries and soon we can decide together with them.
Twenty-six years after the Declaration in the Macedonian Parliament and 20 years after receiving the status of a formal candidate for membership, Stevo Pendarovski, who reminded the national coordinator for NATO, who along with Dimitrov attended the historic signing of the strategic document, practically achieved one of the two major strategic goals behind which were virtually all political elites and leaders from September 8, 1991 to the present.
We have waited for you to join our family for a long time. For years you have contributed to NATO operations and we worked on reforms which have prepared you to become the 30th member of NATO,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“This has not been an easy road, there have been challenges and difficult compromises, but your commitment has made progress,” said Stoltenberg, who gave the pen which the ambassadors used to sign the protocol to Dimitrov.
He paid tribute to the prime ministers of Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras.
“This is a historic occasion. Leaders Zaev and Tsipras showed vision and courage through commitment to resolve the name dispute, contributing to security and stability. The Prespa Agreement marked the first step on the road that brought us here. This was not an easy time, but filled with challenges. We waited for a long time to join our family, contributed to NATO operations and worked on reforms that will enable you to become the 30th member of the Alliance,” Stoltenberg said.
He expressed confidence that the process will take place without difficulty, and NATO will provide full support. “From now on, your representatives will join as invited guests at NATO meetings. You will participate in making joint decisions with us. We share the same values ​​for freedom of democracy and human rights. Today’s event shows that NATO’s door remains open to democrats who accept the responsibilities of the membership, “NATO Secretary-General stressed.
Dimitrov said in his address to the ambassadors that he was very emotional and that he was very happy that he had the honor to represent the country of the historic event.
He pointed out that Macedonia has gone a long way to signing the accession protocol, and that it is ready for the obligations that NATO expects from the country.
“Macedonia will soon be North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement. With this we have fulfilled the promise of the first Members of Parliament on December 23, 1993, when it was pointed out that NATO is our strategic goal,” Dimitrov said.

The impossible became possible

This, in his opinion, This is the result of hard work of many generations and the pledge of our generation. “The achievement did not seem likely, but it was due to the leadership of Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras who paved the way to reconciliation and proved that the impossible is possible. I also welcome the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov for the good neighborly agreement, which also contributed to this act. NATO is for us a family of states that will provide stability and security, which seeks to make the world a more peaceful and a better place. The road we’ve been walking on makes us more mature. We’ve solved all the outstanding issues with the neighbors in a region that is still facing some insecurities. This isn’t the end of the road, but we want to walk on it together. Macedonia will fulfill the reforms it has pledged to complete. As of today, my country is becoming really strong,” FM Dimitrov said thanking all the ambassadors of the NATO countries that signed the Accession Protocol.
The standing ovation in the hall in Brussels caused strong emotions in the press center of the Macedonian government, where on a large video surrounded by the flags of Macedonia, NATO and the EU, attention was paid to the signing of the protocol of each NATO member state. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrej Zernovski, Head of NATO Liaison Office in Skopje, Zoran Jankovic, the Minister without portfolio in charge of the Diaspora, Edmond Ademi and other representatives of the government attended the meeting. Dimitrov’s statement that Macedonia will never walk alone again brought smiles to their faces, referring to the anthem of the British football club Liverpool.
With this act, according to officials, Macedonia receives a final international verification of the territorial integrity and boundaries of the Macedonian state, including a guarantee of the uniqueness of our identity. NATO membership will undoubtedly strengthen internal cohesion.
“Without dilemmas, our integration into NATO is a move of strategic proportion, the significance of which can better value the generations that come after us. I am convinced that, in a package with the agreement with Bulgaria, the space for archiving of the so-called Macedonian issue in a manner that is positive for the Macedonian nation. Therefore, for all those who have invested years of their lives deeply believing in the slogan “Macedonia in the West” – hats off!”, said Pendarovski.
We are becoming the 30th member state

“A great joy after the Bucharest shock,” was one of the reactions after yesterday’s “NATO press.” The NATO’s long-awaited NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008 was a major disappointment for Macedonia, because of Greece’s position on the country’s name, the high-ranking Macedonian state delegation in the Romanian capital had to come to terms with the conditional admission to the Alliance, “to finding mutually acceptable solution” for the long-standing dispute and solving the existing problem between the two neighboring countries. In the following period, we jealously followed the inclusion in the membership of the Alliance of Croatia and Albania, also one of the countries of the former Warsaw Pact. After the summit in Bucharest and the meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Lisbon, Portugal and the adoption of the Strategic Concept of the Alliance, as the experts noted, there was a certain moratorium on the admission of new member states, although their candidacy was confirmed by several other countries from the so-called Western Balkans, including Macedonia. The last NATO enlargement took place in 2017, when Montenegro was admitted as the 29th member of the Alliance. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia remain in the doors of NATO, while our country, with the recent ratification of the Prespa Agreement with Greece in the Parliaments of both countries and the change of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia to change the name of the country, is the 30th Member State.
After 29 NATO member states signed the protocol for Macedonia’s accession to the Alliance, there is another procedure: it should be ratified by their parliaments, a process that usually lasts from 9 months to a year and a half. Greece is expected to be the first country to ratify the protocol next Friday. Until the process of ratification in the parliaments of all NATO member states is completed, Macedonia will be able to participate in the work of all Alliance bodies, but without the right to vote.

Naum Kotevski