Nato to sign agreement with Macedonia

Nato states are due to sign an agreement with Macedonia, clearing the way for the Balkan nation to become the military alliance's 30th member.

Each Nato member will then need to ratify the accession protocol.

This comes after Greece's MPs last month backed a deal ending a 27-year row over its northern neighbour's name.

They approved the name Republic of North Macedonia. Greece had blocked Macedonia's membership saying the name implied territorial ambitions.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov was expected to travel to Brussels to take part in the ceremony, along with representatives from the 29 NATO member countries, according to a schedule published by the Western alliance.

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary-general, said last week that the accession protocol, to be signed February 6 in Brussels, was an important milestone in the Balkan nation's path to becoming NATO's 30th member state.

"On 6 February we will write history: #NATO Allies will sign the accession protocol with the future Republic of North Macedonia together with [Macedonian] FM @Dimitrov_Nikola." Stoltenberg posted on Twitter on February 2.

Macedonia has said it expects Greece to be the first NATO member to ratify the accession protocol, after which the country will begin to call itself by its new name.

Since 1991, Greece has objected to the name "Macedonia" because it has a northern province with that name.

The name change deal, dubbed the Prespa Agreement after the border lake where it was signed last year, ends a 27-year dispute between the two neighbours.

Aside from the name change, the deal carries assurances that there will be no attempt to appropriate the other country's territory.

Within a month, a commission will be set up to look at the two countries' history books, to ensure there is an objective interpretation of the past.

In Athens, the speaker of Greece's parliament, Nikos Voutsis, said a ratification bill would be submitted to lawmakers on February 7 and would be voted on by February 8.