Macedonia receives invitation to start NATO accession talks

NATO member states have agreed to invite Macedonia to start the accession talks, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a press conference on Wednesday.

‘We welcome the historic agreement between Athens and Skopje on the solution of the name issue and agreed to invite the government in Skopje to start accession talks. Once all national procedures have been completed to finalise the name agreement, the country will join NATO as our 30th member,’ Stoltenberg said.

He however reminded that Macedonia could join NATO only if changed its name.

It is up to the people in the country to decide, as this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – they will either support the agreement and become members or do the opposite and won’t become members, he said.