NATO Dashes to Expand in Balkans After North Macedonia Name Deal
People protest outside the Greek Parliament, in Athens on Jan. 25, 2019.
Photographer: Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo
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NATO approved the accession protocol for soon-to-be renamed North Macedonia, weeks after the former Yugoslav republic and Greece settled a decades-long dispute that hindered its membership.
At the center of a tug-of-war for influence between Russia and the West, the Balkan state cleared its biggest hurdle to joining the military alliance last month by agreeing to change its name from "the Republic of Macedonia." Greece, which had blocked its neighbor’s entry because it said the name should apply only to one of its northern provinces that was once home to Alexander the Great, approved a measure last week to drop its objections.