Slovenia ratifies Macedonia’s NATO Accession Protocol


The Parliament of the Republic of Slovenia ratified Macedonia’s NATO Accession Protocol at Tuesday’s extraordinary session. By this, Slovenia becomes the second NATO member state followed by Greece that ratified NATO Accession Protocol.

Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi, who is on an official visit to Slovenia, addressed the Slovenian Parliament. He thanked on behalf of the Parliament and the citizens of Macedonia, noting that this act affirms the friendly and principled attitude towards the citizens of our country.

Speaker Xhaferi said that it has been shown once again that there are no open issues and problems between the two countries. He said that two parliaments in the past three decades established intensive bilateral relations at the level of speakers and at the level of parliamentary working bodies, commissions and administration, as well as realization of numerous twinning projects.

Xhaferi referred to the situation in Macedonia, the endorsed constitutional changes stemming from the Prespa Agreement reached between Macedonia and Greece, which resolved the dispute over the constitutional name and blocked Macedonia from joining NATO and EU. He said that by signing of the Prespa Agreement and its adoption by the national parliaments is a win-win situation. He expressed hope that by the end of this year the NATO Accession Protocol will be ratified by the Parliaments of all 29 NATO member states. He also hopes that the country is to receive a date to start of EU accession negotiations this year.

In his address, Xhaferi concluded that the bilateral relations between the two countries are very good, in all spheres, however he underlined that the economic relations should be further developed taking into consideration the opportunities and interest for cooperation from the two countries.

The Albanian Parliament is also expected to ratify the NATO Accession Protocol for Macedonia on Thursday. Albanian media outlets reported that the Legislative Parliamentary Committee has already approved accession protocol and that a parliamentary session has been scheduled for Thursday.