Macedonia to sign NATO Accession Protocol on February 6

“On 6 February we will write history. NATO Allies will sign the accession protocol with the future Republic of North Macedonia together with FM Nikola Dimitrov,” Stoltenberg tweeted on Saturday.

The ratification of the Prespa Agreement, first by Macedonia and then by Greece, lifted the final hurdle on Macedonia’s road to NATO almost 11 years after Greece had blocked the country’s accession at the Bucharest NATO Summit in 2008.

The signing ceremony will take place at NATO HQ in the presence of Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov. Twenty-nine permanent representatives of the NATO member countries will sign the Accession Protocol, which will allow Macedonia to take part in all ‘key formats’ of the North Atlantic Council.

Macedonia will not be able to participate in meetings where sensitive information is shared before it joins the Alliance as a full-fledged member by which time the country will acquire the capacity needed to manage such sensitive information, Slovenia’s Ambassador to NATO Jelko Kacin has recently told MIA.

After the Accession Protocol is signed, every NATO member will have to ratify Macedonia’s membership, which could take up to two years. However, it is expected the process to be concluded by early 2020. Some members, such as Canada and Belgium, in the past have exercised longer and more complex ratification procedures.

According to diplomatic sources in Greece, Athens is expected to ratify Macedonia’s accession by the end of next week (Feb. 8).

Once all 29 NATO member countries ratify the Accession Protocol, the Macedonian flag will be hoisted alongside those of other members outside NATO HQ in Brussels.